The European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan - A CCK Foundation Overseas Center
Latest News and Announcements:
17th Taiwan Documentary Film Festival: 1 - 2 December
Taiwan is gearing up for another round of parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled to take place at the beginning of January next year. The entire country seems to be caught up in election fever, as both domestic and international media are focused on survey analyses, potential political alliances, and the impact of the elections on Sino-Taiwanese relations.
At a time like this, a film festival that shifts the perspective and sheds light on the issues and everyday concerns of Taiwanese society seems just right. It creates distance from the 'big politics,' behind which 'ordinary people' all too often disappear. This year, we welcome the renowned filmmaker Huang Hsin-yao and showcase four documentaries and a feature film 'from his hand.' The range of topics is broad; however, the director places particular emphasis on his work in the fields of environmental protection and sustainability, which are increasingly gaining socio-political significance in Taiwan.
As always, there will be the opportunity for an in-depth discussion with the director. We will be hosting our film festival - with the generous support from the Taipei Representative Office in the FRG Munich branch office - for the last time at the Kino Arsenal, which unfortunately has to close by the end of the year—a special reason to motivate as many individuals interested in East Asia and Taiwan to attend.
The European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT) team is looking forward to seeing you!
Research on contentious intimacies in China and Taiwan funded as part of Excellence Strategy
A research project, titled 'Intimacy-Mobility-State Nexus in the Context of Democratic and Authoritarian States: A Case Study of China and Taiwan,' has been awarded over 0.3 million EUR for a 36-month duration, commencing in January 2024. The project is led by Jun.-Prof. Yu-chin Tseng 曾育勤, with Prof. Gunter Schubert serving as a co-investigator. This initiative extends Tseng's prior research into the realms of contentious intimacies and the reproduction experiences of guest workers, unmarried heterosexual women, and individuals from the LGBTQ+ community in both China and Taiwan. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments.
The research team, based in Germany, France, UK, the Netherlands and Taiwan, aims to address the complexities of the intimacy-mobility-state nexus that has not received sufficient academic and public attention, particularly in East Asia. By exploring contentious issues in contemporary Chinese and Taiwanese societies—such as digital relationships, access to reproductive rights, dependence on migrants for the care of elders or children, informal networks of migrant workers, relocation for children’s education, and the adoption of alternative education practices as a consequence of migration—this project intends to demonstrate how intimacy and mobility mutually shape and reshape each other within two distinct socio-political contexts: authoritarian neoliberalism (China) and developmental state (Taiwan), respectively.
Former ERCCT Fellow and INDSR Researcher Sheu Jyh-Shyang Gave Public Talk
Former ERCCT Fellow, Dr. Sheu Jyh-Shyang 許智翔 from the Institute of National Defense and Security Research in Taipei gave a public lecture at the ERCCT on Monday, November 27, 2023. In his talk, which was titled 'Grey zone activities and asymmetric warfare - Taiwan's defence dilemma', Dr. Sheu analysed the problem of how Taiwan can most effectively deal with the potential military threats from larger powers and the PLA's constant military provocations which remain below the treshold of direct violent confronation, nevertheless present some level of threat and are therefore aptly termed 'grey zone activities'.
Prof. Alex Tan Presented Research Project on Taiwan's Party System
Prof. Alexander Tan from the Political Science Department of the School of Language, Social and Political Sciences at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, has presented his paper ‘Taiwan: The Party System of a Young Consolidated Democracy’ in the Taiwan Colloquium on November 9. Reflecting on the effects of various factors as the 2004/2005 change of the voting system to the Legislative Yuan and the 2017 Political Party Law on the party system, and in turn of the party system on Taiwan's overall democratic development, the findings are going to be published in 2024 as as chapter in an Oxford University Press volume edited by Thomas Poguntke.
Taiwan Colloquium of the Winter Term 2023-2024
The Taiwan Colloquium programme for the winter term 2023 - 2024 is ready.
Unless specified otherwise, the venue is room 1.81 at Keplerstraße 2.
| Date | Time | Presenter and Topic | |
Nov. 09 Thursday | 18:15 - 19:45 | Prof. Alex Tan Taiwan: The Party System of a Young Consolidated Democracy | |
Nov. 27 Monday | 18:15 - 19:45 | Dr. Sheu Jyh-Shyang Grey zone activities and asymmetric warfare - Taiwan's defence dilemma | Room Lecture Hall 001 Keplerstraße 2 |
Nov. 30 Thursday | 18:15 - 19:45 | Dr. Di Qing Transcultural exploration of Taiko: A comparative aesthetics study between Europe and Taiwan | |
Dec. 6 Wednesday | 18:15 - 19:45 | Prof. Alex Tan Exploratory study of party polarization: Taiwan in a comparative perspective | |
| Dec. 7 Thursday | 18:15 - 19:45 | Prof. Alex Tan Taiwanese Youth Voting for Taiwan: Studying Identity Formation in Taiwanese Youth and its Impact on Voting Patterns in Taiwan | |
| Jan. 11 Thursday | 18:15 - 19:45 | Prof. Lin Shu-Hui Discourses in Taiwan Travel Literature during the Cold War Era | |
| Jan. 18 Thursday | 18:15 - 19:45 | Dr. Lin Kai-Heng The making of “black hands”: The social foundation and institutional change of machinery industry’s skill formation in central Taiwan | |
| Jan. 25 Thursday | 18:15 - 19:45 | Prof. Lin Shu-Hui Cross-cultural Dynamics and Applications of Taiwan Travel Literature | |
Jan. 31 Wednesday | 16:15 - 17:45 | Dr. André Beckershoff Social Forces in the Making of Cross-Strait Relations: Hegemony and Social Movements in Taiwan | Institute of Political Science, Melanchthonstr. 36 Room 124 |
| Feb. 1 Thursday | 18:15 - 19:45 | Kuo Chao-Hsuan The Child Rights in Taiwan’s Parenting Law | |
Congratulation to Prof. Chen Chun-I
The CCKF-ERCCT Team hereby wishes to compliment Professor Chun-I Chen on taking up the position of the President of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation in May 2023. Having met President Chen uring a dinner which the Foundation generously hosted in March, we are more than convinced that the Foundation is in good hands with him and look very much forward to continued cooperation.
Prof. Lee Po-Han gave public lecture on disabled sexualities and crip ambivalence
Prof. Lee Po-Han 李柏翰 from the Global Health Programme, the Institute of Health Policy and Management and associated to the Institute of Health Behaviours and Community Sciences at National Taiwan University gave a public lecture titled 'What's beneath ‘I'd rather not’? Disabled sexualities and crip ambivalence' at the ERCCT on Thursday, 27 July 2023. His talk was informed by a critical study of sexuality education for individuals with disabilities in Taiwan. Articulating crip theory and the sociology of nothing, the lecture explored the intersection of sexualities and disabilities in educational and activism contexts and interrogated how able-mind/bodiedness and heteronormativity have systematically denied people with disabilities their right to sexual agency.
2nd Taiwan Europe Connectivity Workshop held in Tübingen
As a real highlight in a very busy semester, the ERCCT team was pleased to welcome eleven young scholars from Taiwan and Europe to the second ERCCT Taiwan Europe Connectivity Workshop, held from 17 to 21 July 2023 in Tübingen.
Joined by ERCCT Visiting Scholars Prof. Anne Sokolsky and Prof. Lee Po-Han, Visiting Fellows Dr. Tsai Jia-Shin and Wu Peng-chi, and ERCCT Short-Term Resident Fellows Dr. Daniel Davies and Dr Di Qing as well as ERCCT Resident Fellow Judy Lee, the eleven external participants presented their current research projects and discussed them very lively and constructively at the University Guesthouse, so beautifully situated on the hillside at Lessingweg 3.
The first presenter on Monday, 17 July, was Ms. Huang Yun-Ju from the Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies at National Chengchi University. She talked about her project on security in the Taiwan Strait ‘The Edge of the War? An Analysis of China’s Red Lines toward Taiwan’, followed by Mr. Liew Zeng Ee from the Department of Politics at the University of Surrey speaking about ‘Understanding Taiwan’s International Affairs through Metis Diplomacy’, and ERCCT Visiting Fellow Dr. Tsai Jia-Shin from the Institute of Sociology at Academia Sinica, who presented his paper titled ‘Dwelling as the problem and the method: Struggling for alternatives to capitalism in urban and rural Taiwan, 1989 – 2010s’.
On Tuesday, 18 July, Mr. Chung Sanho form the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona made the start, delivering his presentation on ‘Local Elections and Resilience of Clientelism in Democratic Taiwan’. Mr Manlai Nyamdorj from the Department of Chinese Studies at the University of Trier then followed, introducing his study of ‘The Political Economy of Taiwan’s Media System’. Next in line was Ms. Huang Yin-shan, also from the Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies at National Chengchi University, speaking on ‘Interstate Relations and Military Conduct - Analysis of the Activities of Chinese Military Aircraft around Taiwan’. A very different aspect of security, in this case climate security and ‘Taiwanese Approaches to Future Climate Displaced People’ was treated in the paper presentation by Ms. Kate H Martin from the Institute for the Study of Asia Pacific at the University of Central Lancashire, who rounded off the academic part of the second workshop day.
The programme on Wednesday, 19 July, was then mainly dedicated to profound sociological research projects and opened by Dr. Wang Anne-Chie from the Institute of Sociology at Academia Sinica with the presentation of her project titled ‘Assembling End-of-Life Care Regime in Taiwan’. Ms. Chen Jung from the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge followed suit with the presentation of her project on ‘Building pathways toward fatherhood: transnational reproduction of Taiwanese gay men’, before Ms. Ellen Kao from the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica presented her ‘Analysis of the “Lying-flat” Generation under the Globalized Structure’. Mr. Pei Hao-Che from the School of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Southampton fit in neatly then with the presentation of his project titled ‘Looking for Changes in Homelessness: Voluntary-sector Practitioners and The Resilience Without Austerity in Taiwan’s Neoliberal Welfare State’.
On Thursday, 20 July, the programme was opened by Mr. Tuyuq Rabay aka Ho Yueh-Cho from the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS who introduced his research on ‘Learning gaga in the fieldtrip: the Development of Indigenous Identity in Atayal Schools, Taiwan’.
Apart from the project presentations, the workshop also featured contributions from the side of the ERCCT itself. ERCCT Director Prof. Gunter Schubert introduced the center’s objectives and programmes on the afternoon of the first day. On Tuesday afternoon (18 July) Ms. Paula Silvetti, an experienced city guide took the participants to a city tour centering on the history and the most picturesque historical buildings of Tübingen University and city. The following punting boat tour on the Neckar River provided for a very relaxed end of the day. ERCCT team members and fellows briefly presented their individual research projects on Thursday morning. A group discussion on ‘Taiwan’s geopolitical condition’ generated very interesting, insightful dialogue. The social programme featured a visit to Hohenzollern Castle (20 July, afternoon) and to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart on Friday, 21 July, before the workshop was closed with a cheerful dinner at the Castle of Hohenentringen.
Visiting Fellow Wu Peng-Chi from NCKU History Dept. Presented in Taiwan Colloquium
On Monday, 10 July, 2023, Mr. Wu Peng-Chi 吳鵬基 from the Department of History at National Cheng Kung University presented his Ph.D. research to ERCCT Fellows and Visitors as well as a number of interested students from the Department of Chinese Studies in the Taiwan Colloquium. His fascinating talk was titled 台灣彰化王功沿海的林希元祖信仰及其海洋觀念研究 (Lin Xiyuan ancestral belief along the cost of Wanggong, Changhua, Taiwan, and Lin's Concepts of the Ocean).
Prof. Sokolsky Held a Public Lecture on Japanese Era Literature
On Thursday, 3 July, Prof. Anne Sokolsky from the East Asian Studies Program at Denison University, Ohio, gave a public lecture titled "A Taiwanese Girl 臺灣の少女 (1944): Imperialization, Language Education, and Woman's Voice in Japanese Ruled Taiwan". In her talk, Prof. Sokolsky presented the results of her research on the diary of Huang Feng-zi 黃鳳姿 who wrote in Japanese in the 1940s on life in war-time Taiwan.
ERCCT Received Visit by the Prof. Shaw Fu-Zen, Dean of the College of Social Sciences at NCKU
The CCKF-ERCCT received the dean of the College of Social Sciences of National Cheng Kung University, Prof. Shaw Fu-Zen 蕭富仁, who visited the center on 4 July 2023. The talks, hosted by CCKF-ERCCT Co-Director Prof. Tseng Yu-chin and CCKF-ERCCT Managing Director Stefan Braig, took stock of the past and current academic exchange relations between the CCKF-ERCCT and the College of Social Sciences at NCKU and deliberated on perspectives for continuation and deepening of contacts. Dean Prof. Shaw also gave a thorough introduction of the structures, developments, and numerous achievements of the College. The meeting was joined by CCKF-ERCCT Visiting Scholar Prof. Lee Po-Han 李柏翰 from the Institute of Health Policy and Management and the Institute of Health Behaviours and Community Sciences at National Taiwan University, by CCKF-ERCCT Visiting Fellow Dr. Tsai Jia-Shin 蔡嘉信 from the Institute of Sociology at Academia Sinica, by CCKF-ERCCT Short-Term Resident Fellow Dr. Daniel Davies from National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, and by CCKF-ERCCT Resident Fellow Judy Lee 李爾雅 who all enhanced the event through brief reports about their research, thereby giving a vivid impression of the great diversity of Taiwan Studies.
Short-Term Resident Fellow Daniel Davies Presented His Research on Indigenous Voting at the Taiwan Colloquium
Dr. Daniel Davies who just received his Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Kao-hsiung's National Sun Yat-Sen University in May presented his research on electoral behavior of Taiwan's indigenous voters in the Taiwan Colloquium on 3 July 2023.
His talk which was titled 'Ethnic Affinity, Proximity Voting and Indigenous Politics' presented an intriguing mixture of qualitatively and quantitatively collected data and research results and led to a lively dicsussion during the Q&A part of the evening.
Prof. Chen Yi-Ling Held Public Lecture on Social Housing Trends in Taiwan
Prof. Chen Yi-Ling 陳怡伶 from the School of Politics, Public Affairs, and International Studies/Geography at the University of Wyoming held a public lecture at the ERCCT on 22 June 2023. In the talk, which was titled "From Globalizing Taipei to Referencing European Cities: Referencing as a politicalizing strategy in Taiwan’s urban development", she analyzed how housing policies transfer from one country to the other and focused on how Amsterdam’s social housing plays an important role in shaping social housing in Taiwan. In the 1990s, Globalizing Taipei was a new urban development strategy for the city that was undergoing economic restructuring and new democratic governance. The new goal shifted the logic of urban planning towards neoliberal urbanism. Housing speculation was intensified by pro-developer urban policies. In 2010, serious problems of housing affordability mobilized the social housing movement, inspired by Amsterdam, where 40% of the total housing stock is social housing. So, Prof. Chen’s lecture dealt with changing urban referencing and housing problems in Taipei City by applying theories of global cities and policy mobility. Prof. Chen argued that the geopolitical situation of Taiwan is a crucial factor in policy mobility in addition to the economic crisis. The desire to be global is often the underlying force for choosing a new model to emulate.
Visiting Scholars Shen Hsiu-Hua Presented Kinmen Research Project in the Taiwan Colloquium
Prof. Shen Hsiu-Hua 沈秀華 from the Institute of Sociology at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu presented her research project 'Kinmen as a Shifting Border' in the Taiwan Colloquium on 5 June 2023. With this project, at the junction of border studies and political sociology, Prof. Shen tries to understand processes of shifting identities among Kinmen's youth, (re-)shaping Kinmen's status as a border between Taiwan and China.
Prof. Shen Hsiu-Hua Gave a Public Talk on CCP United Front Work towards Taiwan
Prof. Shen Hsiu-Hua 沈秀華 from the Institute of Sociology at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu held a fascinating talk on the PRC's united front work vis-a-vis Taiwan's younger generations, Thursday, 25 May. Her talk was titled "Infrastructuring Youth: the Chinese Government's Mobilization of Taiwanese Young People" and gave the audience quite some food for thought.
Feb. 6 - Chen Teng-Hsiang
On Monday, 6 February 2023, Dr. Chen Teng-Hsiang 陳登翔 from the Institute of Sociology at Academia Sinica presented the outline of his research project "The Transboundary Mission of the Chinese Buddhist Organisation Foguang Shan from Taiwan to Germany" in the Taiwan Colloquium. His presentation also included fascinating first-hand data from his most recent field-trip to the Fogugang Shan temple in Frankfurt during the 2023 Chinese New Year festival and from the Lantern Festival just the day before the colloquium and inspired a lively discussion with the audience.
Announcement: Taiwan Europe Connectivity Workshop 2023
The ERCCT will hold its second Taiwan Europe Connectivity Workshop, a workshop for emerging young scholars, i.e. Ph.D. students (3rd year and above) and postdocs, from 16 to 22 July, 2023. The main topic for this year’s workshop is "New leeway for Taiwan in the international arena?"
Other paper submissions pertaining to the fields of Taiwan politics, society, economics and cross-strait relations are highly welcome.
Travel expenses (up to 1,250 EUR) and accommodation will be fully covered by the CCKF-ERCCT. Successful applicants are requested to submit a research paper after the workshop for online publication in the CCKF-ERCCT Online Paper Series.
For application, please send your CV and an outline of your research project (5-6 pages) until 15 March, 2023 to:
Stefan Braig, M.A.
ERCCT Managing Director
Mail: stefan.braig@uni-tuebingen.de
Download this announcement.
Visiting Scholar Jonathan Sullivan presented paper in Taiwan Colloquium
Prof. Jonathan Sullivan from the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham presented a paper, which he has submitted for publication, on Thursday, December 16, 2022, in the ERCCT’s Taiwan Colloquium: “Time matters in the Taiwan Strait”. In this paper, Dr. Sullivan departs from the observation that an intensification of the mainland Chinese multi-faceted efforts to urge Taiwanese society into accepting the alleged inevitability of (re)unification may have negative psychological effects on Taiwanese people’s capacity to envision their own future. And he gives a first answer to the question of ‘how Taiwanese elites and public think about Taiwan’s future in the shadow of Chinese coercion and threat’ by analyzing Tsai Ing-wen’s attempts to prime Taiwanese to face the future.
Taiwan Colloquium in Winter 2022/23
The programme of the winter semester 2022/23 Taiwan Colloquium is out now:
Date | Time | Speaker and Topic | Venue |
| Nov. 17 Thursday | 6 – 8 pm | Karoline Buchner Of ‘Quiet Medical Revolutions’ and ‘Foreign Meddling’: Covering Chinese Medicine in Taiwan Panorama | Keplerstr. 2 Hörsaal (HS) 001 |
| Nov. 24 Thursday | 6 – 8 pm | Prof. Ann Heylen Featuring Formosa: Historical narration and semantic prosody in newspaper corpora | Keplerstr. 2 Hörsaal (HS) 001 |
| Dec. 15 Thursday | 6 – 8 pm | Dr. Jonathan Sullivan Taiwan and the Future | Keplerstr. 2 Hörsaal (HS) 001 |
| Dec. 19 Monday | 4 – 6 pm | Dr. Jonathan Sullivan Ph.D. dialogue: Making your way in Asian Studies – From PhD to profession[s] | Keplerstr. 2 Room 003 |
| Jan. 23 Monday | 6 – 8 pm | Prof. Wu Ying-Chu Umwandlung der verfassungsrechtlichen Stellung der politischen Parteien in Taiwan – vom Verfassungsentwurf in Jahr 1936 bis zur Verfassungsauslegung Nr. 793 im Jahr 2020 | Keplerstr. 2 Raum 1.81 |
| Jan. 26 Thursday | 6 – 8 pm | Prof. Wu Ying-Chu | Keplerstr. 2 Hörsaal (HS) 001 |
| Feb. 2 Thursday | 6 – 8 pm | Cheng Ting-wen The impact of Virtual exchanges on promoting the integration and development of the Cross-Strait: An Example of Cross-Strait Youth Student Online Exchange Activities | Keplerstr. 2 Hörsaal (HS) 001 |
| Feb. 6 Monday | 6 – 8 pm | Dr. Chen Teng-hsiang The Transboundary Mission of Chinese Buddhist Organization Fo Guang Shan from Taiwan to Germany | Keplerstr. 2 Raum 1.81 |
| Feb. 9 Thursday | 6 – 8 pm | Prof. Dr. Gunter Schubert The Taiwan predicament revisited: National identity and the China threat | Keplerstr. 2 Hörsaal (HS) 001 |
EATS Conference 2023
Call for Papers for the 20the Annnual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies
26-28 June 2023 at SOAS, London
Taiwan Studies in Twenty Years: Retrospect, Prospect
26-28 June 2023
Centre of Taiwan Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
For the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS), the 2023 EATS conference comes back to its ‘birthplace’ – SOAS, University of London – to celebrate, examine, reflect and encourage the development of Taiwan Studies as a growing academic field.
The growth of Taiwan studies in Europe is a success story from zero to one. The past twenty years have witnessed an amazing endeavour of ploughing the barren land, sowing the seeds, taking roots, and leading to the eventual boom. The Association was established at SOAS in 2004 to develop Taiwan Studies not only in the UK but also in other European countries. To launch the Association, the first-ever Taiwan Studies conference in Europe took place at SOAS on 17 and 18 April 2004. Over the last two decades, the Association has become institutionalised and the research on Taiwan in Europe has also blossomed under the collective endeavour of EATS members and the leadership of the EATS Board and Secretary Generals.
To review the past achievement and examine the prospect and future of Taiwan Studies in Europe, the 2023 EATS conference welcomes a broad range of contributions to topics related to Taiwan. In other words, the 2023 EATS conference invites submissions from all disciplines and especially welcomes innovative and interdisciplinary papers. Suggested, but not exclusive, topics of interest include:
- Party politics and the emerging trend
- Change, social movement and political activism
- Indigenous rights and settler-colonial legacy
- Migration, diversity, and ethnic relations
- History, (re)remembering, and forgetting
- Development and environmental dilemma
- Cultural representation and identity
- Literature and positioning
- Global conflicts and civil society tension
- Transnational activism and globalisation
- The semiconductor industry and national security
- Popular culture, tourism, and cultural industries
- Gender politics, LGBTQ+ and marriage
- Diplomacy and statehood
- Everyday life and identity
- Transitional justice and human rights
- Education and ideology construction Digital revolution and mass media Taiwan Cinema
- Visual cultures: comics, MV and advertise
- Arts and performance
Submission
* Regular panels
Please submit your abstract to http://www.conftool.net/eats2023 by 6 November 2022. Please note that you will have to create a user account first. One applicant may submit one abstract only. Applicants sending submissions for the Young Scholar Award are not allowed to send submissions for regular panels.
* MA panels
EATS welcomes submissions from students currently enrolled in MA programmes. MA panels are not restricted to the theme of the conference, although they should be relevant to the broadly defined field of Taiwan Studies. Please submit your abstract to http://www.conftool.net/eats2023 by 31 December 2022. Please note that you will have to create a user account first. One applicant may submit one abstract only. Applicants sending submissions for the Young Scholar Award are not allowed to send submissions for regular panels.
Review and acceptance
After a double-blind review process, EATS will announce the successful submissions around 28 February 2023, but we will strive to announce the results earlier. Accepted postgraduate presenters (PhD and MA students) who are affiliated with European institutions, or who are the 2023 Young Scholar Award finalists, will receive a travel grant of €150.
The 2022 Taiwan Studies Young Scholar Award (YSA)
European Association of Taiwan Studies
The 2022 Taiwan Studies Young Scholar Award (YSA)
Deadline: 28 February 2023
The 2023 Taiwan Studies Young Scholar Award (YSA) is open to applicants who are currently enrolled on a Master’s degree or PhD programme, or who are within three years of having submitted their PhD dissertation but are not currently in a full-time lectureship. Papers should correspond to Taiwan Studies in Twenty Years: Retrospect, Prospect, the theme of the 20th Annual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS). Please see the call for papers for the 20th annual EATS conference for details on the conference theme. Applicants must currently hold a valid 2022 EATS membership when participating in this contest. EATS board members are ineligible to apply.
Styling
Papers should be written in English, single-authored and 7,000–9,000 words long. The word count should include a 250-word abstract, footnotes and a bibliography/references. Applicants should use Times New Roman, size 12, 1.5 spacing and APA referencing for styling the paper.
Submission
Please submit your papers to http://www.conftool.net/eats2023 by 28 February 2023. Please note that you will have to create a user account first. Candidates may submit papers that are under review for publication in a scholarly journal at the time of the 2023 EATS conference. Each applicant may submit only one paper. Submissions for the YSA will not be considered as submissions to the 2023 EATS conference. Please follow the guidelines of the 2023 EATS call for papers to submit abstracts to the 20th EATS conference.
Evaluation
Submissions will be evaluated according to their relevance to the field, originality, clarity of methodology, quality of presentation and respect for quotation rules. After a double-blind external review process, the EATS board will nominate by 30 April 2023 no more than three finalists. The finalists will be invited to present their papers at the 20th annual EATS conference hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London on 26-28 June 2023. At the conference, the finalists will be further evaluated for their oral presentations for the final determination of the competition result.
Award
The final results will be announced at the closing ceremony of the 2023 EATS conference. Each prize winner will be presented with an official certificate and a monetary award.
Funding
YSA finalists will receive a partial reimbursement for travel and/or accommodation during the conference as per EATS conference regulations. Absence from the EATS conference will be considered as withdrawal from the competition.
Step-by-Step submission guide
Please find here the downloadable step-by-step submission guide.
Dr. Leon Kunz presented his research to ERCCT Fellows
As this summer's first Taiwan Colloquium speaker, Dr. Leon Kunz from the Center for Taiwan Studies at the University of Texas at Austin presented his current project "Space, leadership, and organization: Comparing the Sunflower and Umbrella movements" on Monday, 27 June 2022. His presentation was followed by vivid discussion with ERCCT fellows, and we are looking forward to seeing the publication of the article coming out of this research.
Welcoming Ms. Yu Ssu-Han as Visiting Fellow
The ERCCT team is happy to welcome Ms. Yu Ssu-Han 游絲涵 from the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science as our first Visiting Fellow in the summer semester 2022. Ms. Yu will stay at the ERCCT until July 25 and present her doctoral research project "Mediating democratic politics: Generational understanding of democracy and identification with Taiwan" during the Taiwan Europe Connectivity Workshop in July.
We wish her a successful and pleasant stay in Tübingen!
COAST Call for Chapter Contributions: Taiwan As Ocean
The Centre of Austronesian Studies is pleased to announce the call for chapters for an edited book, Taiwan As Ocean. For detail information about the scope and topics of this edited book, please see the attached pdf file or visit the ISAP UCLan website: [CALL FOR CHAPTERS] Taiwan as Ocean - Institute for the Study of the Asia Pacific (isapuclan.org.uk)
For proposal submission or any queries, please contact Dr Ti-han Chang at tchang2@uclan.ac.uk
Schedule for submissions:
- Proposal Submission Deadline: 31 October 2022
- Acceptance Notice: 15 December 2022
- Full Paper Submission Deadline: 30 May 2023
Visiting Fellow Dr. Huang Wei-Hao Opened the Taiwan Colloquium 2022
Dr. Huang Wei-Hao 黄韋豪 from the Institute of Political Science at National Sun Yat-sen University presented his research on the influence of China's strategic bilateral partnerships on Taiwan's external relations under the title "Expanding China’s Partnerships Networks: How China Factors Affect Taiwan’s Bilateral Relations with Other Countries? " to ERCCT fellows in the first session of the Taiwan Colloquium in 2022 on Monday, 17 January.
Dr. Marinaccio Presented Her Research Project on Taiwan's Emigrant Electorate
Dr. Julia Marinaccio from the Department of Foreign Languages (Chinese Studies) at the University of Bergen, Norway, war our guest speaker in the Taiwan Colloquium of Monday, 17 May 2021. Dr Marinaccio intrigued the audience with a presentation of her current research project on the consequences of Taiwan's lack of an absentee voting system ("The Taiwanese emigrant electorate: Studying transnational political mobilization in the context of cross-strait relations"), exploring the cases of Taiwanese in Austria and on the chinese mainland.
Here is the talk recording.
Visit to Partner Institutions at National Sun Yat-Sen University
On May 3rd, Prof. Gunter Schubert, ERCCT director, visited the Department of Sociology and the Institute of Political Science at National Zhongshan University in Kaohsiung, which are long-term ERCCT partner institutions. He held a talk and gave an ERCCT work report to faculty and students. Prof. Schubert, who has been in Taiwan since early March, also visited other ERCCT partners and briefed them on the ERCCT's activities under the current conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Taiwan's Green Parties" - Dafydd Fell Presented His New Book on Alternative Politics in Taiwan in the Taiwan Colloquium
We are glad to have had our friend Dr Dafydd Fell from the Center for Taiwan Studies at SOAS presenting his new book "Taiwan's Green Parties: Alternative Politics in Taiwan" in the opening session of the summer semester 2021 ERCCT Taiwan Colloquium on Monday, May 10, 2021! It was a very lively presentation, made all the more interesting as the author not only described the research methodoloyg and content of his book but also shared his personal motivation and connections to the field and talked about his related plans for the future.
Here is the talk recording.
IJTS Research Article Competition, 2021
The International Journal of Taiwan Studies is pleased to announce the 2021 IJTS Research Article Competition. Since its launch in 2018, IJTS (ISSN: 2468-8800, https://brill.com/view/journals/ijts/ijts-overview.xml) has established itself as a principal outlet for the dissemination of cutting-edge research on Taiwan. IJTS is the first internationally collaborative, multidisciplinary, and peer-reviewed academic research journal in English dedicated to all aspects of Taiwan studies, including social sciences, arts and humanities, and topics which are interdisciplinary in nature. To continue the development of Taiwan studies and with the financial support of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS), we announce a call for papers for the 2021 IJTS Research Article Competition. There are three categories of articles for entry:
• Arts and Humanities
• Social Sciences
• Indigenous Studies
Each research article can only be entered in one category. IJTS Executive Editorial Board members and IJTS Advisory Board members are not eligible to enter the Competition.
For further details see the announcement PDF!
The Taiwan Colloquium in the Summer Semester 2021
A Transnational Outlook on Cross-Strait Studies: Case Studies and New Research Approaches
The ERCCT colloquium continues to introduce the latest research on contemporary Taiwan to explore various themes, this time however, uniting contributions under the research perspective of a transnational outlook on cross-strait studies.
The colloquium is again organized as a luncheon seminar with presentations. It is an online event that takes place on Mondays (with one exception) from 12.30 to 13.45. Speakers will talk for 20-30 minutes, followed by 30-40 minutes Q&A.
For details of the programme see the Taiwan Colloquium section of this website!
Please register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ercct-taiwan-colloquium-summer-2021-tickets-152525753635
New Resident Fellow: Judy Lee
We are very happy to welcome Ms. Judy Lee 李爾雅 to Tübingen as a new ERCCT Resident Fellow. Judy has just arrived in town a few days ago and she will start working on her Ph.D. project about how contact tracing as a measure of epidemic control might affect perceptions of democratic governance during the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
The ERCCT team wishes her a good start and a successful time in Tübingen!
Feb. 22 - Tseng Hsun-Hui
In the final session of the Taiwan Colloquium of the winter semester 2020-2021, Prof. Tseng Hsun-Hui 曾薰慧 from the Department of Taiwan Literature at National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, talked about her research project on Vietnamese mariage migrants engaged in Taiwan's sex entertainment industry and the ways in which they come to terms with being mothers and sex-workers at the same time. The presentation, based on longterm field research, was titled "Motherhood and Moral Economy: The Art of Negotiation of Marriage Migrants Engaged in the Sex Entertainment Industry in Taiwan".
Postgraduate Research Grant for the Study of the Tainan Region
The International Center for Tainan Area Humanities and Social Sciences Research awards a Postgraduate Research Grant for the Study of the Tainan Region, 2021, to M.A. or Ph.D. candidates in humanities or social sciences working on a porject related to Tainan.
Please view the guideline documents in english or chinese for further details.
Prof. Zhan Min-xu Held Talk on Imaginations of "the South" in Contemporary Taiwanese Literature in Taiwan Colloquium
Prof. Zhan Min-xu 詹閩旭 from the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Transnational Cultural Studies at National Chung Hsing University (Taichung) made a very interesting contribution to the Taiwan Colloquium with his talk "Taiwan Literature from a Southern Perspective" on Monday, February 1, 2021. In his talk, Prof. Zhan gave interesting insights into the motivation of contemporary writers to spell out their imaginations of the Global South.
Lee Po-Han gave talk on Taiwan in regard to epidemiological (inter)nationalism
Prof. Lee Po-Han 李柏翰 from the Global Health Programme of National Taiwan University's College of Public Health gave a talk in the Taiwan Colloquium on Monday, January 18, 2021. Speaking on the topic of "Solidarity with whom? Repositioning Taiwan beyond the WHO's epidemiological (inter)nationalism", Prof. Lee first introduced the post-WWII international pandemic response regime with a particular focus on the International Health Regulations of 2005 and then discussed the multiple positions of Taiwan / the Republic of China in this context.
The Taiwan Colloquium in the Winter 2020/2021
The Covid-19 pandemic has shaken the world with unforeseeable speed and dimension since the beginning of 2020. Amid the pandemic, we have come to realize the significance and urgency of understanding Taiwan from social, political and historical perspectives more than ever. Against this background, the ERCCT colloquium continues to introduce the latest research on contemporary Taiwan to explore various themes, such as aboriginal peoples, global mobility, and literature.
This colloquium is organized as a luncheon seminar with presentations. It is an online event that takes place on Mondays from 12.30 to 13.45. Speakers will talk for 20-30 minutes, followed by 30-40 minutes Q&A.
For details of the programme see the Taiwan Colloquium section of this website!
Please register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ercct-colloquium-tickets-127309061831
Taiwan Colloq. on Musical Journeys of Luo Dayu and Teresa Teng
On Monday, December 14, Ass. Prof. Cheng Chen Ching 鄭楨慶 from the Department of Journalism and Communication at Chu Hai College of Higher Education, Hong Kong, made a most interesting contribution to the Taiwan Collquium in presenting his research on the specifics of Teresa Teng'S and Lo Da-yu's musical development in the larger context of the cold war and post-cold war eras and chinese national identities.
Dec. 7 - Zhu Yifei
On Monday, December 7, Mr. Zhu Yifei 朱奕飛 from the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at Freie Universität Berlin presented his Ph.D. research project in the Taiwan Colloquium. His presentation was titled "Developmentalism Across the Strait: An Institutionalist Explanation of Taiwan’s Economic Policy toward China between 1990 and 2016" and lively discussed by the audience.
TAITRA Has Launched Website Offering Resources to Fight Covid-19
Under the headline "We're in this Fight Together", the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) has launched a Taiwan Global Anti-Covid-19 Pavillion, a websiteoffering information on Taiwan's anti-Covid-19 resources in English, which can be found at https://www.anti-covid-19.tw
For more information, please download the following documents:
Introduction_Taiwan_Global_Anti-COVID-19_Pavilion
News_Release_Taiwan_Global_Anti-COVID-19_Pavilion
The 18th Annual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies
Our friends at the European Association of Taiwan Studies annonce that the 18th EATS Annual Conference is now open for abstract submission. The conference is held on 15-17 April 2021 at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. The theme of the conference is 'Taiwan in Transition'.The 2021 Young Scholar Award is also open for submission. The deadline for both submissions is 15 September 2020. The call for papers for the conference can be found here and the YSA announcement can be found here. Please click here for the submission form for regular panels and YSA competition and here for submission form for MA panels.
Short-Term Resident Fellow Progam 2020-2021 Open for Applications
Applications to the Short-Term Resident Fellow Programme, November 2020 to March 2021 period, are now accepted until August 15, 2020! Under this programme, we welcome Ph.D. or postdoc researchers to join the CCKF-ERCCT for a period of between three and six months and grant them a monthly stipend of 350 EUR plus a 500 EUR travel grant, as the pandemic situation is under control in Tübingen and south-western Germany.
For more information on the programme please refer to the Short-Term Resident Fellow Programme Section of this website and see the announcement or write an e-mail to stefan.braig@uni-tuebingen.de
Applications welcome for the Visiting Fellow Programme of the winter semester 2020-21
Ph.D students or postdortoral fellows from our Taiwanese partner insitutions interested in the Visiting Fellow Programme, please note that the ERCCT now accepts applications for the coming winter semester.
For information on the programme please see the Visiting Fellow Programme section of this website or see this announcement.
Taiwanese Films and Expert Talk: Taiwan, Then and Now
On Wednesday, June 24, 2020, the ERCCT, in cooperation with China Centrum Tübingen (CCT), hosted an online talk and discussion with Chris Berry, professor of film studies at King's College London. Entitled "Modernity, Gender, Sexuality: Social Values in Taiyupian", the talk referred to two Taiwanese movies that are part of the project on taiyupian 台語片, "Taiwan's Lost Commercial Cinema" (by film scholars Prof. Berry and Dr. Ming-Yeh Rawnsley). One was "Foolish Bride, Naive Bridegroom" 三八新娘憨女婿, a comedy from 1967 by Xin Qi, and the second, "Like Father, Like Daughter" 前世情人的情人, was a modern sequel to the first. Both films have been available to registered users to be viewed online for four days prior to the event.