Further details about the book
Programme
Date: Friday 13 March 2009, 6pm-7pm, followed by Reception
Venue: The Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building, London School of Economics (LSE)
Chair: Professor Athar Hussain
6:10pm-6:20pm How this book came to be written
Speaker: Dr Fang-Long Shih
6:20pm-6:30pm How this book is theoretically framed
Speaker: Dr Paul-François Tremlett
6:30pm-6:40pm How this book contextualizes Taiwan
Speaker: Mr Stuart Thompson
6:40pm-6:50pm Overview of the book
Speaker: Professor Stephan Feuchtwang
6:50pm-6:55pm Remarks
Speaker: Ambassador Siao-Yue Chang (Taipei Representative Office in UK)
7pm-8:30pm Reception
This inter-disciplinary volume of essays opens new points of departure for thinking about how Taiwan has been studied and represented in the past, for reflecting on the current state of 'Taiwan Studies', and for thinking about how Taiwan might be re-configured in the future.
As the study of Taiwan shifts from being a provincial back-water of sinology to an area in its own (albeit not sovereign) right, a combination of established and up and coming scholars working in the field of East Asian studies offer a re-reading and re-writing of culture in Taiwan. They show that sustained critical analysis of contemporary Taiwan using issues such as trauma, memory, history, tradition, modernity, post-modernity provides a useful point of departure for thinking through similar problematics and issues elsewhere in the world.
Re-writing Culture in Taiwan is a multidisciplinary book with its own distinctive collective voice which will appeal to anyone interested in Taiwan. With chapters on nationalism, anthropology, cultural studies, media studies, religion and museum studies, the breadth of ground covered is truly comprehensive.