Place, identity and national imagination in postwar Taiwan / Bi-yu Chang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chang, Bi-yu, author.

Series:

Routledge research on Taiwan ; 15.

Routledge research on Taiwan ; 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nationalism--Taiwan.

Identity politics--Taiwan.

Political geography.

Cultural geography--Taiwan.

Cultural geography.

Identity politics.

Nationalism.

Taiwan--History--1945-.

Taiwan.

History.

Taiwan--Civilization.

Civilization.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xviii, 260 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2015.

Summary:

In the struggles for political and cultural hegemony that Taiwan has witnessed since the 1980s, the focal point in contesting narratives and the key battlefield in the political debates are primarily spatial and place-based. The major fault line appears to be a split between an imposed identity emphasizing cultural origin (China) and an emphasis on the recovery of place identity of 'the local' (Taiwan). Place, Identity and National Imagination in Postwar Taiwan explores the ever-present issue of identity in Taiwan from a spatial perspective, and focuses on the importance of, and the relationship between, state spatiality and identity formation. Taking postwar Taiwan as a case study, the book examines the ways in which the Kuomintang regime naturalized its political control, territorialized the island, and created a nationalist geography. In so doing, it examines how, why, and to what extent power is exercised through the place-making process and considers the relationship between official versions of 'ROC geography', and the islanders' shifting perceptions of the 'nation'. In turn, by addressing the relationship between the state and the imagined community, Bi-yu Chang establishes a dialogue between place and cultural identity to analyse the constant changing and shaping of Chinese and Taiwanese identity. With a diverse selection of case studies including cartographical development, geography education, territorial declaration and urban planning, this interdisciplinary book will have a broad appeal across Taiwan studies, geography, cultural studies, history and politics. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: nationalism, identity and geographical imagination in postwar Taiwan 1

2 Building castles in the sand: the construction of national imagination and territorial ownership in the ROC Yearbooks (1951-2010) 24

3 Maps, modernity and the state: Taiwan's postwar cartographic development and changing national rhetoric 67

4 The rise and fall of Sanminzhuyi Utopia: the spatiality of power in the construction and dismantling of Chunghsing New Village 112

5 Home is a foreign country: the 'national geography' in postwar elementary education (1945-2000) 155

6 Postscript: home and beyond 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781138788282

1138788287

OCLC:

891942021