"Reconstructing Taiwan: The Cultural Politics of Contemporary Nationalism" (Introduction) Book Club Record

The authorXiao Aqin 's writing is concise and smooth. Although this book is an academic work, it is not too difficult to read. The "Introduction" is arguably the most "academic" chapter. This chapter lists the expectations and problems that the whole book is expected to solve in a subsection.

Main problem awareness:

How did the concept of cultural specificity promote the development of "cultural nationalism" in Taiwan? How does the ideology of the uniqueness of Taiwanese culture influence nationalist politics through three important fields of intellectual activity: literature, language, and history ? What role did humanistic intellectuals play in the development of Taiwanese nationalism? Furthermore, how did their arguments for the specificity of Taiwanese culture create the concept of "Taiwanese nation"?

The people, language and history of Taiwan Island (Minimalist @@):

With the evolution of the times as the axis, various ethnic deductions on Taiwan Island since the 16th century were discussed. Taken as a whole, it can be seen as a process in which Chinese immigrants gradually expanded and became mainstream. Before the Japanese Occupation, various Han ethnic groups were in constant conflict with the aborigines, with the Han people (Fujian and Guangdong) as the main group. In the first 20 years of the Japanese rule, they fought against Japan by force. In the latter 20 years, influenced by the international trend of thought, they fought for self-governance by non-force. After the war with China, the social movement ended.

In 1949, the Kuomintang began a one-party dictatorship, limited local elections, and the economy recovered. In the 1970s, diplomacy suffered setbacks, and the international identity dispute between the two sides reached a peak. The political movement on the island intensified, and then the DPP was established to try to win the independence of Taiwan.

In the 1990s, the consciousness of unity and independence was at its peak, affecting the development of literature, art and other fields. With the gradual freedom of politics and the increasing number of people who self-identify as "Taiwanese", the DPP's demands have gradually become pragmatic.

Review of Nationalism and Taiwanese Nationalism Research:

It must be said that nationalism itself is a rather complex subject. The relatively mainstream discourse is the famous "Imagined Communities", whose author Benedict Anderson represents a typical "non-evolutionary determinism" nationalist discourse. Emphasizing the important impact of nationalist modernity, this discourse sees the nation as a collective identity that develops essentially in dependence on cultural constructs created by nationalists who seek to establish sub- national states, or Driven by the state that already exists.

On the other hand, Taiwanese nationalism studies are divided into two groups, one is the " imagined community" orientation influenced by Anderson; the other is the "political competition" orientation .

The former focuses on Japanese colonization and the dictatorship of the Republic of China government. The former provides an imagination of the concept of the "Taiwanese nation" and appropriates Anderson's concept of "print capitalism" and the independence and self-determination obtained by colonization; the latter invokes Anderson's concept of "official nationalism" and "pilgrimage" to interpret the Taiwanese nation. development of ism. The disadvantage of this research orientation is that it provides a set of standard nationalist discourses, and does not discuss relatively specific and subjective nationalist discourses. The latter focuses on the competition between the Kuomintang dictatorship and the non-Party movement. Under such competition, Taiwanese nationalism has thrived. Constructing a set of Taiwanese nationalist discourses through political struggle, viewing Taiwan as a "dominated" subject, and then challenging the existing state power.

Cultural Nationalism and Political Nationalism:

The definition of nationalism in this book cites Ernest Gellner :

"Nationalism is primarily a political principle that asserts that the boundaries of political units should coincide with those of national units." In this definition, nationalist sentiment is "a sense of anger that provokes a violation of this principle" or " The satisfaction that comes from attaining this principle”, and the nationalist movement is a movement motivated by this feeling. (page 48)

Then, the core of Taiwan's nationalism lies in the so-called challenge of the domination of "Chinese/Outside Provinces" and the pursuit of the alignment of ethnic boundaries (Taiwanese) and political boundaries (Taiwan State). In other words, ethnic inequality (in this province and other provinces) lays the foundation for the development of Taiwan's nationalism.

Then we have to think further about the next question: how can the so-called dominated ethnic group become a nation? What are the differences and similarities between the two?

The author here quotes Anthony Smith 's arrangement of the two different developmental contexts of nationalism, which constitutes the turning point of the basis of this book's argument. The first is the establishment of nationalism led by the aristocracy or horizontal community. Most are early modern countries such as Western Europe. In order to consolidate and maintain their own interests and common beliefs, the entire superstructure, including education, administration, etc., accepts and controls the people of the lower class; the second is the colonized country, and the one that promotes nationalism is the knowledge of the colonized Molecules, through indoctrination, "awakened" the ancient memories of the old era, and provided the yardstick for the survival of the ethnic group. Concoct a series of educational programs to create a "community of history and destiny." Provide impetus for political transformation.

Going back to the question just now, it is not difficult for us to answer. How does an ethnic group become a nation? They need to make a jump in discourse! In other words, it is "from insisting on pursuing equal citizenship rights based on the particularity of the ethnic group itself, to trying to build a new country based on the unique national culture." And this process mainly relies on the cultural activities of humanistic intellectuals, that is, Xiao Aqin part of the focus of this book.

Cultural Nationalism and Political Nationalism:

Cultural nationalism asserts that national identity is a matter of consciousness rather than a political process. The establishment of decentralized institutions, through the education of the public to achieve the effect of national identity; political nationalism believes that the legitimacy of the nation should be ensured through the establishment of a state. Take the "jurisprudential-rational" line and build institutions that centralize power.

So, are the two parallel? Or who comes first? The historian Miroslav Hroch proposed the so-called three-stage formula of national development: first, a very small number of people who are interested in culture began to collect historical materials → → people began to use the research results of the previous stage to strive for political legitimacy → → founding. Such a general formula is applied in most colonial countries, but Hsiao A-Qin believes that the development of nationalism in Taiwan is not the same. He argues that Taiwan is politically radical first, and after being influenced by this radical political conflict, humanistic intellectuals begin to develop. Be inspired to create.

The nature of the politics of cultural specificity:

In this section, the author refutes the use of cultural specificity as the basis for mobilizing the masses, and believes that the essence of cultural specificity is political struggle. When humanistic intellectuals construct national consciousness, it is not through a common and shared foundation, on the contrary, it is a fluid field of debate and resistance.

In short, this is also a commonplace question. Tradition, history, culture, etc. are all invented rather than original and inherent. Intellectuals create a system that "we" have in common, and that system determines what is rational, right, and true. Elements of politics are shaped through this constructed discourse.

Although they are clichés, they are deeply ingrained in our hearts…

The connection between modernization ideology and cultural nationalism:

Non-Western nationalism is often associated with the modernization process. Pursue the advanced ability of the West to compete with it. As far as Taiwan is concerned, during the Japanese occupation period, the general intellectuals regarded the local culture of Taiwan as relatively backward, and had to learn and imitate the relatively progressive Japanese culture. During the period of the Nationalist government, Taiwanese independent intellectuals were dissatisfied with the slow modernization and constructed a dualistic cultural discourse: China was relatively backward and rigid; Taiwan was reactionary, indigenous, rooted in the land, and democratic . (This kind of contradiction is like Wu Zhuoliu's "The Orphan of Asia" described in)

For cultural nationalists, claiming to pursue modernity may be more of a concern than claiming to embrace national traditions. If the historical past is like a repository for symbols of the imagined community of this nation, it is equally important for cultural nationalists to be a prison from which to escape. (page 67)

Channels and channels through which cultural nationalists spread their ideas:

This section discusses how the humanistic intellectuals at that time interacted with the public? Xiao Aqin actually interviewed those intellectuals. Through such interviews, he learned that cultural workers often use speeches and workshops to influence the public. Secondly, the influence of college student associations is also quite far-reaching. Taiwanese cultural nationalism creates a "countercultural" space through organizations and activities, and uses alternative educational methods to develop a group of cultural nationalists who also influence cultural policy.

Question discussion:

In the follow-up, we discussed the differences in the development of nationalism in Taiwan, and clarified that in the current main discussion, there are two main waves of development of nationalism in Taiwan. The first was during the Japanese occupation period, but the development of nationalism in this period was relatively vague; The second time was the development after World War II, especially after the 1980s, which Xiao Aqin was concerned about. Because of Taiwan's own historical factors, it was relatively frequently colonized or ruled by powerful powers. Whether the two developments of nationalism were mutually inclusive or separated from each other actually needs to be reconsidered.

Here are some of the issues we discussed at the time:

Is the development of cultural nationalism and political nationalism in Taiwan, as Xiao A-Qin said, that political intensity precedes cultural development?

Do you think the pursuit of modernity is more important or the pursuit of tradition is more important? why?

Welcome to discuss below!

references

Hsiao A-Qin, "Reconstructing Taiwan: The Cultural Politics of Contemporary Nationalism" (Taipei: Lian Jing, 2012).

Ruthless business:

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Read Bar's Discord , which includes a review of the study session video discussion!