Uni-Tübingen

Dr. André Beckershoff

Name:André Beckershoff 貝安德
Email-Address:andre.beckershoff[at]ercct.uni-tuebingen.de
Project Title:Intimacy in the Shadow of the Silicon Shield
Ph.D. project title:Contesting Hegemony: Social forces in the Re-Making of Cross-Strait relations
Phone:+49 (07071) 29 72744
Room:134

Biography

André Beckershoff is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan at the University of Tübingen, Germany. His research focuses on political economy, social movements, migration, and labor, with a regional emphasis on Taiwan. He studied Political Science in Münster, Germany, and Toulouse, France, and received his PhD from the University of Tübingen. In 2011/2012, he was a Visiting Research Fellow at National Chengchi University in Taipei, and he conducted further fieldwork in Taiwan in 2014.

André is the author of Social Forces in the Re-Making of Cross-Strait Relations: Hegemony and Social Movements in Taiwan (Routledge, 2023) and has published numerous articles and book chapters on the political economy of Taiwan and its social movements. He also co-edited the volume Assessing the Presidency of Ma Ying-jiu in Taiwan (Routledge, 2018). His current research, part of the project Intimacy-Mobility-State Nexus in the Context of Democratic and Authoritarian States: A Case Study of China and Taiwan, examines the role of migrant labor in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. This collaborative project, led by Principal Investigator Tseng Yu-chin and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments, focuses on the intersections of intimacy, mobility, and the state.

Current Research Project

Intimacy in the Shadow of the Silicon Shield explores the role of migrant workers in Taiwan’s electronics industry through the lens of the dormitory labor regime. This research is a sub-project of the broader initiative Intimacy-Mobility-State Nexus in the Context of Democratic and Authoritarian States: A Case Study of China and Taiwan, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments. Led by Principal Investigator Tseng Yu-chin, the project investigates how intimacy and mobility are regulated and contested in differing political systems.

Focusing on the lived experiences of migrant workers in employer-provided dormitories, this sub-project examines how these spaces function as both sites of labor control and as arenas where intimacy is negotiated and alienation is intensified and contested. On-site dormitories, as spatial extensions of the workplace, blur the boundaries between living and working, shaping the social reproduction and intimate practices of migrant workers. Drawing on political economy and migration studies, the research highlights how the enforced proximity of shared living arrangements fosters "involuntary intimacies" that mediate relationships between workers, employers, and the state. At the same time, the rigid structures of the dormitory regime alienate workers from their personal lives, family connections, and opportunities for solidarity. Through qualitative fieldwork, the project interrogates how dormitory life impacts workers’ autonomy, agency, and collective organization, situating these dynamics within Taiwan’s broader political economy and its role in global semiconductor production.

By emphasizing the intersecting roles of (im)mobility, intimacy, and alienation, the research reveals how the Taiwanese state and the semiconductor industry rely on the dormitory labor regime to manage and control migrant labor. Ultimately, the project contributes to broader debates on labor regimes, state power, and the human costs underpinning the global supply chains of high-tech industries.

Publications

Monographs

Edited Volumes

  • Assessing the Presidency of Ma Ying-jiu in Taiwan. Hopeful Beginning, Hopeless End? (with Gunter Schubert) 2018. London and New York: Routledge. LINK (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351045117)

Peer Reviewed Articles

Book Chapters

Conference Papers

Invited Talks

Areas of Interest and Research

Teaching

Memberships