Taiwanese Identity in a Global Context: Young Taiwanese Sojourners in Sweden
(2013) SIMV10 20131Graduate School
- Abstract
- While Taiwanese identity within a political or economic China-Taiwan framework has been extensively investigated, Taiwanese identity in a global context is relatively unexplored. This paper studies how young Taiwanese sojourners in Sweden encounter their identity when they are outside the physical borders of Taiwan and what it means to be Taiwanese in the globalized world. 14 in-depth interviews were carried out for examining how young Taiwanese interpret their everyday life in the world and their position in it. The results suggest that, due to Taiwan’s ambiguous political status, Taiwanese often encounter misrecognition or nonrecognition by others in an international environment, and such experiences have made Taiwanese identity into an... (More)
- While Taiwanese identity within a political or economic China-Taiwan framework has been extensively investigated, Taiwanese identity in a global context is relatively unexplored. This paper studies how young Taiwanese sojourners in Sweden encounter their identity when they are outside the physical borders of Taiwan and what it means to be Taiwanese in the globalized world. 14 in-depth interviews were carried out for examining how young Taiwanese interpret their everyday life in the world and their position in it. The results suggest that, due to Taiwan’s ambiguous political status, Taiwanese often encounter misrecognition or nonrecognition by others in an international environment, and such experiences have made Taiwanese identity into an active fact for them. While Taiwanese are constructing Taiwaneseness, they face the fact that they are not the only authors of their own country and identity. China/Chinese as their significant other plays a crucial role in constructing Taiwanese identity. These young Taiwanese sojourners have been through continuous negotiations of their identity, which is a process within power relations. This dialogical process not only reflects who they are and their position in the world, but also attests to the contextuality and fluidity of identity. The results also have implications for the future of Taiwanese international position, and for the constant negotiation of the China-Taiwan relation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4004369
- author
- Sun, Tien-Mu LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SIMV10 20131
- year
- 2013
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Taiwanese, Identity, globalization, Taiwan, China.
- language
- English
- id
- 4004369
- date added to LUP
- 2013-09-03 08:15:28
- date last changed
- 2013-09-03 08:15:28
@misc{4004369,
abstract = {{While Taiwanese identity within a political or economic China-Taiwan framework has been extensively investigated, Taiwanese identity in a global context is relatively unexplored. This paper studies how young Taiwanese sojourners in Sweden encounter their identity when they are outside the physical borders of Taiwan and what it means to be Taiwanese in the globalized world. 14 in-depth interviews were carried out for examining how young Taiwanese interpret their everyday life in the world and their position in it. The results suggest that, due to Taiwan’s ambiguous political status, Taiwanese often encounter misrecognition or nonrecognition by others in an international environment, and such experiences have made Taiwanese identity into an active fact for them. While Taiwanese are constructing Taiwaneseness, they face the fact that they are not the only authors of their own country and identity. China/Chinese as their significant other plays a crucial role in constructing Taiwanese identity. These young Taiwanese sojourners have been through continuous negotiations of their identity, which is a process within power relations. This dialogical process not only reflects who they are and their position in the world, but also attests to the contextuality and fluidity of identity. The results also have implications for the future of Taiwanese international position, and for the constant negotiation of the China-Taiwan relation.}},
author = {{Sun, Tien-Mu}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Taiwanese Identity in a Global Context: Young Taiwanese Sojourners in Sweden}},
year = {{2013}},
}