1. At the moment there are around 40 Taiwan Study Centres based in Universities all around the world. Do you feel this is a reflection of the growing relevance of Taiwan Studies?
Does this reflect great potential for the field to grow in size, depth and also sustainability?
Dr Fell: The rise in the number of international programmes and centres with a focus on Taiwan over the last 15 years is remarkable. It’s encouraging to see that most have managed to survive and expand over time. They also have been quite diverse in the kinds of themes they cover and their models of operation. There clearly is a growing interest in Taiwan in Europe and North America and this has contributed to the field’s growth and its greater diversity.
Naturally many of the centres are fragile, as they are reliant on one or two individuals and often short term funding. This has been a long-term challenge but even the SOAS programme started on a similar model and has been able to become more institutionalised over time.
Dr Chang: When I began my PhD in the 1990s, there were very few academics in the UK interested in Taiwan, and English-language resources on the topic were also scarce. Academic interest in Taiwan first emerged in the 1980s due to its economic miracle, followed by its democratisation in the 1990s. Initially, Taiwan was often referenced in relation to China. However, over the last three decades, we have witnessed considerable progress. The interest in Taiwan studies in recent years has shifted towards its liberal democracy, freedom, and multiculturalism.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether this growth truly reflects the field’s increasing relevance and strength. The current prosperity can be attributed partly to scholars’ efforts, Taiwanese funding initiatives, heightened Western interest, and possibly, a growing suspicion about China.
2. Having said that, why is it that with over 40 centres globally, SOAS is still the only institution that offers a ‘Taiwan Studies’ masters programme outside Taiwan?
How have you been able to sustain the ‘MA Taiwan Studies’ course over so many years in the face of pressure from Universities to consolidate resources and funnel students into more mainstream programs?
Dr Fell: The SOAS Taiwan Studies teaching programme is probably the thing that most distinguishes us from other similar programmes. In other words, there are many places that run Taiwan events or have a few Taiwan modules, but what we have is the degree and the most extensive set of Taiwan focused modules.
One critical ingredient has been integrating Taiwan modules into a variety of degree programmes at SOAS. Actually, the vast majority of our students are not on ‘MA Taiwan Studies’ but may be taking a single Taiwan class as part of their ‘Politics’, ‘Film Studies’, ‘Asian Studies’ or other degree programme. This also serves to keep the class makeup quite diverse and helps keep the class discussions lively. It’s also useful to integrate Taiwan into comparative modules, such as classes comparing North East Asian countries. These kinds of classes will often attract students with a more Korea or Japan interest who might not take a fully Taiwan focussed class, and yet by doing country comparison with Taiwan, we find students often end up becoming much more interested in Taiwan by the end of the course.
However, within our university there are so many choices of courses available, so for a more niche topic such as Taiwan we need to offer something different and put more effort into raising our course visibility internally. Why should a student take a Taiwan class rather than one on East Asia or China? This is where the Taiwan events programme comes in. Few programmes, even at our university, have that intimate connection between the teaching and extra-curricular events. The way we design the events programme is meant to complement the teaching, so during the academic year, we’ll try to get as many people as we can from the module reading list to come to speak at SOAS, invite practitioners to come and share and even run film screenings connected to the course content. As a practical example, on my ‘Elections, Gender and Social Movements in Taiwan’ class, I will try to bring in politicians or social movement activists to have direct dialogue with students.
I also think it’s useful to tell students about alumni and how they’ve built on what they learnt for further studies or in their subsequent careers. This can be reinforced when such alumni come back to SOAS to give talks.
Lastly, external funding has definitely been an important factor in our ability to maintain Taiwan focussed courses. Particularly in our earlier years we did often have smaller class numbers and if we had not had external funding, classes would have been in danger of being cut. We have seen how a number of similar niche programmes have been lost, while our external funding has protected us.
3. Something that is notable about the Taiwan-focussed classes at SOAS is how many students from all different programmes take part, from International Relations, to Art History, to Area Studies and Political Economy and more. How have you managed to make these modules attractive to students from so many other programs?
Dr Chang: Ensuring our courses are both engaging and academically rigorous is a significant challenge. I typically tailor course content to students’ backgrounds and interests. For instance, I incorporate topics relevant to students’ degrees, such as gender politics, history, politics, IR, or popular culture. Nonetheless, the lively discussion sessions have consistently been the highlight of our classes.
Dr Fell: We do need to try to sell Taiwan to the students in a variety of ways. Sometimes it’s a matter of using case studies such as the Sunflower Movement or marriage equality movement to capture student interest. In other cases it can be connecting Taiwan to concepts or theories, such as in political science or international relations, but generally it is the integration of Taiwan-related modules into multiple degree programs that helps to bring a variety of students from different courses together onto the Taiwan modules.
4. What advice might you have for other Taiwan Study Centres that run Taiwan-related modules but aren’t yet able to support a full degree in Taiwan Studies? Is it worth building towards the ability to run a full degree programme, or is a range of Taiwan-related modules actually enough?
Dr Fell: I don’t think it’s essential to offer a degree, though I think teaching is important, as it has a bigger long term impact. What I would say is more important is for programmes to have their own core specialism or identities. At SOAS we try to be as comprehensive as we can but the way we connect the events to the teaching gives us a core focus.
Dr Chang: Running a Taiwan module, let alone a degree, is exceedingly challenging. Given the current circumstances, it may be worthwhile exploring how to integrate Taiwan-related topics into existing modules, or simply identifying suitable lecture topics and proposing them to module convenors as a way of expanding Taiwan-related teaching.
Dr Fell: I feel it is also very important to have a team in a programme and try to avoid being overly reliant on a single individual. What is special about the SOAS programme is we have a core of usually three of us making things happen. Chang Bi-yu joining as a full time team member in 2013 had a transformative impact on our Centre of Taiwan Studies, but also having a part time administrator has helped with the day to day running. Having said that, it’s not just numbers but being passionate about Taiwan Studies and also sharing a vision of what the programme should look like.
5. The events that SOAS CTS run throughout the year, culminating in the Summer School each June/July time are a key way in which you bridge the gap between academic research and a public audience. How important do you think it is for other Taiwan Study Centres to follow suit in holding talks, seminars, film screenings etc, that are open to the public and not just to students?
Dr Chang: The capacity of each CTS activity varies depending on its funding and institutional support, including the level of interest and research expertise in Taiwan among academics at the institution. Instead of attempting to replicate the SOAS model, I believe it is essential for each centre to develop its strengths and specialities, such as literature, economy, music, IR, and so on.
Dr Fell: Something like 95 percent of the events we run are open to the public. This is partly because we want to reach beyond academic audiences but also because often the networking between public audiences and students can be quite valuable. I feel that since Covid we have found it harder to get the same kind of diverse audience as in the past and students and staff have become a larger part of audiences. The exception to that pattern has been the Summer School where we tend to get a more diverse audience.
The events that we tend to run as non public opens are usually dialogue sessions with practitioners and there we try to prioritise these as spaces for the students to engage with such speakers. Students have often spoken of such events as the most memorable in their time at SOAS.
6. How important is it for the ‘world’ of Taiwan Studies to be well connected, staying informed on the latest research that is coming out?
Dr Chang: Collaboration and resource-sharing are essential. In our case, we frequently collaborate with institutions like UCLan, Nottingham, and Portsmouth. However, more collaboration between academics who are researching and or teaching on Taiwan can only be a good thing!
Dr Fell: It is important for our courses and events to stay flexible and to adjust to changes in the field and in Taiwan. So for instance, over time we have revised the teaching structure and contents. Having so many events and speakers also helps us keep up with the latest developments in the field.
7. What do you see as some of the greatest future challenges when it comes to the maturing of Taiwan Studies as a discipline?
Dr Fell: There are always challenges ahead. For instance, all Taiwan programmes are reliant on time limited funding, except perhaps those with big endowments. So there is always a degree of uncertainty in the future. We have found it quite hard to introduce new modules in recent years. This is partly due to pressure to avoid smaller modules and also there is a degree of luck. In other words, many of the people who have been hired at SOAS that have taught Taiwan were not hired to teach Taiwan. For instance, a Chinese literature lecturer established the Taiwan film class and it’s survived because of its popularity even after the founder left. But we’ve lost some modules due to professors retiring and departments not being willing to find replacements to keep those classes going, for instance the Hokkien module or the Economics module. I am always hoping that SOAS will recruit someone new who happens to also research on Taiwan!
Dr Chang: While the proliferation of ‘Taiwan Studies Centres’ worldwide is encouraging, these centres need to integrate into their respective universities, rather than remain as stand-alone entities. Without firmly establishing themselves within the institution, their efforts may ultimately prove futile. Generating interest and concern among young people regarding Taiwan and its affairs is crucial for the sustainability of these centres.
8. There has been a lot of great research to emerge from SOAS CTS, is there any that you would particularly highlight as being ground-breaking, or that has made you especially proud?
Dr Chang: At SOAS, the CTS has emerged as one of the most active and progressive research centres. Our student numbers have grown significantly, and our Taiwan Studies modules are highly popular among students. From its humble beginning of offering just a few hours of teaching about Taiwan, I am immensely proud of how the CTS at SOAS has expanded over the years.
Dr Fell: Yes, Bi-yu and I were having coffee yesterday with Bob Ash, who was the founder of the SOAS Taiwan programme. When we started out, Taiwan was very marginal back in 1999 (I had just arrived as a student that year and only became heavily involved after graduating in 2003). But today we’re the world’s leading Taiwan Studies institution. There are a few things I would highlight.
Firstly our extensive teaching programme and degree. As Bi-Yu said, We have managed to gradually expand from an initial single module to the current five postgraduate and three undergraduate classes. This is something I am proud of and being able to teach classes on Taiwan that are not available anywhere else in the field, classes that are close to what I research, is so special.
Secondly, we are proud of our events programme and the way it connects to the teaching, It means we’re exposed to so many interesting speakers and perspectives and allows us to feel we are still students. I especially love the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies Summer School that we run every year, but we also agree that establishing the European Association of Taiwan Studies Conferences was very impactful beyond SOAS and is a key reason for the vibrancy of Taiwan Studies in Europe.
I also feel very proud of the way we have worked on so many collaborative projects with Taiwan partners. One of these was the Second World Congress of Taiwan Studies which we organized together with the Institute of Sociology, Academic Sinica. This also served as the basis of some important publications such as the 2019 edited book Taiwan Studies Revisited, which I co-edited with Academia Sinica’s Michael Hsiao.
Lastly, I am proud of our work in promoting Taiwan Studies publications. Creating the Routledge Research on Taiwan book series back in 2009 was a key moment. We have now published 42 volumes and many of them are extensively used in teaching and also some are based on conferences or workshops held at SOAS. Another publication achievement was the creation of the International Journal of Taiwan Studies in 2018, which is edited by my colleague Ming-yeh Rawnsley.