國際台灣研究中心國際學者講座
International Taiwan Studies Center: Lecture
Speaker: Dr Astrid Lipinsky (Lecturer, University of Vienna)
Title: “Saigon Kid”. A Taiwanese youth depiction of the New Immigrants
Date: March 18, 2015
Time: 10:10-12:00
Venue: B1, Conference Room, College of Liberal Arts
Moderator: Prof. Ying-Ying Chien (Department of Applied Chinese Language and Culture, NTNU)
Abstract:
Bride migration to Taiwan began over twenty years ago. The first groups of immigrants were married to Taiwanese men and were meant to have children to continue the husband’s blood line. These children have already attended school for a period of time, and are still confronted by an amount of prejudices. Although their fathers are Taiwanese, they are solely related to their immigrant mothers’ side. Teachers believe they are ‘stupid’, unable to speak Chinese, and conclude that they would affect the class climate negatively. Normally teachers would blame the parents for a student’s failure; however in that case they would revert to communication problems with the migrant mother due to their lack of Chinese.
This talk gives an introduction to the story told by “Saigon Kid” by Taiwanese female youth author Zhang Youyu and the illustrations accompanying the text. The book is also placed in the context of other volumes written and other topics addressed by the same author.