The 'national' imagining of contemporary Taiwan

The representation of cultural heritage from the Japanese colonial era

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5701273
AutoresMing-Li Yao (0000-0002-8342-6351, Soochow University), Ming‐li Yao (Soochow University, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume28
Fascículo9
Páginas985-1001
Data de publicação2022-09-02
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Journal of Heritage Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1352-7258 • E-ISSN: 1470-3610
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13527258.2022.2115102
OpenAlexW4293661340
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas33

This study aims to discuss how the government and society of Taiwan have appropriated the heritage from Japanese colonial rule into the discourse of Taiwanese culture to bolster the national identity of Taiwan. The interconnected theoretical concepts of ‘imagined communities’ and ‘nationalising the past’ ground the analytical framework of this study. With a focus on the ‘selective’ presentations of the colonial heritage in historic Tainan City, this study explores how the official and social discourses have trivialised, reorganised, simplified, and recontextualised the historical intricacies of legacies of the Japanese colonial era through the process of heritagisation. The research results suggest that the meaning of colonial legacies has been shaped and reshaped from being a mark of the dark past and deprivation to constitute a glorious contribution fulfilling the discourse of multi-faceted Taiwanese culture. This case also suggests the possibility for a post-colonial society to extricate itself from a mimicking mentality and to redevelop their culture discourse as a buttress of the national identity

Aesthetics · Colonialism · Cultural heritage · National identity · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Gender Studies · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Philippine History and Culture