Imagining Formosa: American Writings on Taiwan

Catalog description

American accounts of Taiwan mid-nineteenth century to present are the focus of this seminar. Beginning in 1860, Euro-American merchants, diplomats, missionaries, ethnographers, and explorers began arriving in ever-increasing numbers. We will read representative texts written by these visitors during years of treaty-port imperialism, Japanese colonial rule, martial law, and later democratization, including post colonial criticism and a novel set in 1950's Taipei and a collection of short stories. The island’s complex aboriginal and Chinese ethnic population is the subject matter of much of this writing, and we will explore issues of indigeneity and ethnicity.