RECENTERING TAIWAN: COLONIALISM, THE NATION, AND IDENTITY IN TAIWANESE FICTION AND FILM

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the variety of factors that have influenced Taiwanese identity formation since the latter half of the twentieth century. This was done with a particular focus on the influence of Taiwan’s various colonial relationships that have been developing at least since the Japanese occupation. This thesis also points to the power of historical narrative in identity formation and the negotiations that take place between “official” government sponsored attempts at creating historical narrative as opposed to the attempts we see by authors and filmmakers to expose crucial events in their own identity formation that has been previously been neglected or ignored. The results of this thesis illustrate how Taiwan’s colonial relationships with Japan and China continue to impact Taiwanese identity, particularly due to the influence of the Cold War. Taiwanese have responded to the influence of the Chinese by creating and propagating an image of a multi-cultural Taiwan. However, this multi-cultural Taiwan still is largely Han Chinese dominated and uses the image of the Indigenous peoples of Taiwan to fit this official historical narrative thus to some extent repeating the ills of earlier regimes.