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Working Papers

Education and Research of Taiwan History in Taiwan

2009.11.15 Views 2009.11.15

[ARI Working Paper Seires No. 5]



Education and Research of Taiwan History in Taiwan



by Lung-Chih Chang

(Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica)


 


Notes on Contributor


Lung-Chih Chang is currently Assistant Research Fellow at the Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Dr. Chang received his Ph. D. degree in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University in 2003. Before studying at Harvard, he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from National Taiwan University with the major in history. He joined the Preparatory Office of the Institute of Taiwan History in Academia Sinica in 1995. After the founding of the Institute in 2004, Dr. Chang became the chairperson of cultural history research group of the Institute in 2006. Dr. Chang has been the visiting scholar of Cambridge University in 2005 and of Tokyo University in 2009. He was awarded the first Taiwan Lectureship by the R.O.C. Ministry of Education in 2007 and lectured in Heidelberg University and University of London (SOAS). Dr. Chang’s research interest covers social and cultural history of Taiwan, comparative colonialism in East Asia and modern Taiwanese historiography. His latest project is a monograph on Japanese colonial knowledge formation and cultural politics in early twentieth-century Taiwan.



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Abstract


his paper aims to explore the significance of indigenization (bentuhua) movement on education reform, historical research and identity politics in contemporary Taiwan. The rise of Taiwan study testifies the trend towards indigenization and search for collective identity after the lifting of martial law in 1987. The origin of

the indigenization movement is closed related to Taiwan’s post-war history and the incomplete question of decolonization. I discuss the impacts of the indigenization movement by examining representative cases of textbook revision, institution building and history controversy in post-martial law Taiwan. And the conclusion further reflects on the nature and prospects of education reform and academic research on Taiwan history

in the global age. The paper thus helps illustrate the convergence and competition between nationalism, post-colonialism and globalization in contemporary Taiwan and provides comparative insights to understand ongoing history controversies in East Asia.


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