Imaging and Imagining Taiwan

Since the 1990s the issue of identity has been one of the most prominent and hotly debated topics in Taiwan Studies. Imaging and Imagining Taiwan takes a fresh approach to this important topic, examining Taiwanese identity from a visual perspective and exploring the ways in which the island is presented and imagined. Covering a diverse range of topics, the book aims to capture the fluidity, changeability, fragmentation and dynamism of Taiwanese identity as an imaginary and encompassing whole. The book is divided into three sections: 'Colonial Representation' deals with colonial subjectivity and experience; 'Imaging Difference' examines cultural identity in artistic expressions; and 'Identity and Place' explores the relationship between identity and social space. Through its seven case studies, the book focuses on the ways in which Taiwan is represented, how this relates to identity politics, and how the island is imaged and imagined visually, socially, and symbolically. Interrogating the complex issue of Taiwanese identity from various standpoints, the seven contributors write from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds (Literature, History, Film Studies, Linguistics, Anthropology and Cultural Studies) and geographical contexts (Taiwan, Europe and America). By combining different themes and disciplinary approaches together, this book offers a new contextualization of identity politics, and brings nuance and depth to the discussion of Taiwanese identity.