1. The CTS at UCSB is one of the longest-standing Taiwan Studies institutions in the world. What kind of advantages does such long history give when it comes to the running of the center?
Since its founding in 2003 by Kuo-Ch’ing Tu, the Center for Taiwan Studies at UC Santa Barbara has provided an important platform for the study of Taiwan in California. To the best of my knowledge, it is the longest running center or program of its kind in North America. Given its long history of engagement with both the local and international communities, one of the most obvious advantages is the established networks within which it has been nested. For instance, when I assumed Center Directorship, it was relatively easy for me to build and expand on the longstanding collegial relationship between the Center and various Taiwanese government agencies such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles.
Another advantage of coming from such a long history lies in the realm of teaching. Because Tu offered regular courses in Taiwan studies before his retirement, and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies even appointed temporary instructors to extend the teaching of Taiwan-content courses before my appointment, I did not have to persuade the school of the importance of developing and offering courses in Taiwan studies. I could simply draw on that long tradition.
In addition to rooting a long tradition of Taiwan-focused pedagogy at UCSB, the Center has been renowned for promoting the study of Taiwan literature. Tu himself was a poet and a scholar of Taiwanese literature, so it was natural for him to offer courses in Taiwanese literature. But he also did much more. For example, Tu devoted a significant amount of time and energy to edit the Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series journal, a globally respected journal that introduces Taiwanese literature (and its scholarship) to an English-language readership through translation. The journal has been running for nearly three decades (established in 1996), and during Tu’s tenure as Center Director, many of the scholarly events he convened focused on the promotion of Taiwan literature in the Anglophone academic world.
2. Are there particular areas of Taiwan Studies that you find attract significant interest among students at UCSB?
It strikes me that the students at UCSB are very open-minded and keen to learn about different subjects. Reasonably, the courses I offer depend on the direction of my research. Some of the themes, topics, and approaches that have attracted significant interest among my students include gender and sexuality, settler colonialism, race and indigeneity, Sinophone studies, the medical humanities, and Taiwanese history and films.
3. Are there some long-term partnerships that you have developed with other Taiwan Studies institutions that have expanded what you are able to do (including in Taiwan)?
Absolutely. My long-term friendship with Shu-mei Shih at UCLA and Ping-hui Liao at UC San Diego have been instrumental for programming successful scholarly and cultural activities at UCSB. Both have much more experience than I do in promoting Taiwan studies in the United States, so I am grateful for their guidance and mentorship. My Center works with the East Asian Studies Program at UC Davis and the Global Hong Kong Studies at the University of California to encourage new approaches to Asian studies. In the last two years, I have also built a close working relationship with James Lin at the University of Washington, Yao-Yuan Yeh at the University of St. Thomas, Fei-Hsien Wang at Indiana University, and Mikki Ruo-Fan Liu at Stanford University. These institutions represent some of the most important places for doing Taiwan studies in North America today. Together we have developed new collaborative projects, such as the recently launched North American Taiwan Studies Online Summer School, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This took place over three weekends in September/October 2005, hosted at IU Bloomington, but catering to an online audience from around the world. Participants tuned in to engage and interact with a fantastic lineup of speakers who all lead in their respective fields.
In Taiwan, my Center is extending its decades-long collaboration with the Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica. We are also entering new agreements with the College of Liberal Arts at National Taiwan University. Additionally, because Chinese-language education constitutes an important goal of our Center, we have collaborated with the Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University to administer the Huayu Best program, supported by the Ministry of Education. This is a short-term scholarship that gives students the opportunity to study Mandarin in an immersive environment at NTNU’s Mandarin Training Center for a 2-3 month semester.
Reflecting my own research specialty, the Center seeks to deepen its relationship with National Chung Hsing University in the area of Sinophone studies, National Cheng Kung University in the medical humanities, and Kaohsiung Medical University and the Institute of Ethnology at Academia Sinica in critical gender studies and psychoanalysis.
4. You have held the directorship at UCSB’s CTS since 2023, what has been your vision over the past two years and what is the direction of development for the CTS moving forward?
There are two key principles to my vision for the future of the Center for Taiwan Studies at UCSB. First, the Center will enhance its visibility both locally and internationally. Since the start of my directorship, I have reached out to and worked with various programs to increase the visibility of Taiwan studies on campus. For instance, we have an ongoing collaboration with the Center for Feminist Futures to program events in “Global Queer Asias.” Last year, we worked closely with the Department of Asian American Studies to bring a series of distinguished speakers to campus. In the future, we are branching out to the American Indian and Indigenous Studies program, the Department of Music, and the Department of Theatre and Dance to curate cross-disciplinary events supported by CTS. Not only do these collaborations increase the visibility of our CTS, but they also work to ensure that Taiwan Studies expands in relevance to students from other disciplines.
Secondly, the Center will promote the most cutting-edge scholarship in Taiwan studies. This means that we will stress the importance of interdisciplinary scholarship. We have launched a new book series “Critical Perspectives on Taiwan” in collaboration with Columbia University Press (and welcome readers to submit your book proposals).
We continue to expand our library collection so that it will be an important resource for researchers in the humanities and social sciences.
With the current grant sponsored by the Ministry of Education, CTS’s five-year vision centers on the notion of “Taiwan in a Relational World.” In 2024-2025, the annual theme was “Taiwan and Asian America”; in 2025-2026, the theme is “Taiwan and Southeast Asia,” and we have a stellar line-up of speakers this year, including Andy Scott Chang, James Lin, Larry Lai, Brian Bernards, and Lillian Ngan. Future annual themes will explore Taiwan’s relationship to Hong Kong, the Asia Pacific region at large, and global Asias.
7. Do you have any specific advice for younger Taiwan Studies Centers or Programs around the world that are trying to follow in your footsteps?
Yes: to think beyond the box, even if the box is Taiwan itself.