{"id":10800,"date":"2026-10-21T15:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/?p=10800"},"modified":"2026-10-27T16:38:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T08:38:48","slug":"building-taiwan-subjectivity-keywords-of-taiwan-theory-iii-workshop-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/en\/2026\/10\/21\/building-taiwan-subjectivity-keywords-of-taiwan-theory-iii-workshop-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Taiwan Subjectivity: Keywords of Taiwan Theory III Workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On September 19-20, 2026, the International Taiwan Studies Center at NTNU was pleased to host the Keywords of Taiwan Theory III Workshop (\u53f0\u7063\u7406\u8ad6\u95dc\u9375\u8a5eIII\u5de5\u4f5c\u574a).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across two days and twelve panels, participants introduced forty-nine potential keywords of Taiwan theory, each representing important concepts in Taiwan history, culture, or theory, and experimenting with new ways of conceptualizing the Taiwan experience, creating theoretical tools which can be used to address global issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workshop followed in the footsteps of two prior events and published volumes, Keywords of Taiwan Theory<\/em>\u300a\u81fa\u7063\u7406\u8ad6\u95dc\u9375\u8a5e\u300b(2019) and Keywords of Taiwan Theory II<\/em>\u300a\u81fa\u7063\u7406\u8ad6\u95dc\u9375\u8a5eII\u300b(2025), which introduced fifty-five keywords between them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The context and purpose of the workshop and the keyword approach was clearly explained during the opening ceremony by Yushan Scholar, Irving and Jean Stone Chair Professor at UCLA, and Chair Professor of the NTNU Department of Taiwan Literature, Languages and Culture Shih Shu-mei (\u53f2\u66f8\u7f8e).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her remarks, she explained how the building of Taiwan\u2019s subjectivity necessitates the building of Taiwan theory\u2014that is, theory which reflects a uniquely Taiwanese way of seeing and experiencing the world, in contrast with dominant, received theories, usually Western in origin and treated as universal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If all applicable theories emerge from specific situations, including language, then any Taiwan-based theory must arise from Taiwan\u2019s particular language(s) and circumstances\u2014hence the use of keywords to assemble important concepts in Taiwan\u2019s history, culture, and worldview.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Yushan Scholar and Irving and Jean Stone Chair Professor Professor Shih Shu-mei delivering remarks at the opening ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Professor Shih emphasized the cycle of theoretical creation: Theories begin with a firm grounding in local historical circumstances in order to conceptualize life experience, and go on to escape the specifics of that grounding to be applicable in other situations. But instead of being merely representative of historical or social facts, they reflect the ways theorists see themselves and their own history, feeding back into interpretations of local circumstances. With good progress already made in the first two steps by prior activities and publications, Professor Shih hoped that this workshop would mark the beginning of Taiwan theory building upon and reinforcing its own past work, deepening understanding of itself and Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Distinguished Professor Chen Dung-sheng (\u9673\u6771\u5347, left) and NTNU College of Liberal Arts Dean Liaw Shyue-Cherng (\u5ed6\u5b78\u8aa0, right) at the opening ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Distinguished Professor Chen Dung-sheng (\u9673\u6771\u5347) from the NTU Department of Sociology also spoke, noting that with Taiwan being \u201cseen\u201d by the world as it has not been for almost four hundred years, and the number of Taiwan-related faculty positions at North American humanities departments rapidly growing, now is the opportune moment promote Taiwan theory to students and researchers around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distinguished Professor and Dean of NTNU\u2019s College of Liberal Arts Liaw Shyue-Cherng (\u5ed6\u5b78\u8aa0) reaffirmed how the development of these keywords would allow Taiwan and the world to be seen and understood from Taiwan\u2019s own base principles, thus building its own internal complexity and reinforcing its epistemological sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
(From left) Assistant Research Fellow Chen Wei-chi (\u9673\u5049\u667a), Research Fellow Hung Tzu-wei (\u6d2a\u5b50\u5049), Professor Cheng Li-hsuan (\u912d\u529b\u8ed2), and Distinguished Professor Chen Ruey-lin (\u9673\u745e\u84ee) at a panel on the second day of the workshop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Chaired by esteemed scholars such as Professor Shih, Distinguished Professors Kuo Wen-hua (\u90ed\u6587\u83ef) and Chen Ruey-lin (\u9673\u745e\u9e9f), Professor and ITSC Director Nikky Lin (\u6797\u5dfe\u529b), Research Fellows Hung Tzu-wei (\u6d2a\u5b50\u5049)  and Chang Lung-chih (\u5f35\u9686\u5fd7), and Professor Anthony Yeh (\u8449\u6d69), the panels discussed keywords encompassing a diverse range of historical and cultural concepts and phenomena: from from Taiwanese hibakusha<\/em> (\u53f0\u7063\u88ab\u7206\u8005) and refugee colonialism (\u96e3\u6c11\u6b96\u6c11\u4e3b\u7fa9) to island (\u5cf6\u5dbc) and habitat technics (\u68f2\u5730\u6280\u8853), from Taiwan zhutixing<\/em> (\u53f0\u7063\u4e3b\u9ad4\u6027) and sai-h\u016b<\/em> epistemology (\u53f8\u961c\u77e5\u8b58\u8ad6) to enviralmental<\/em> (\u75c5\u614b\u74b0\u7dad\u5ea6) and fabulation (\u64ec\u9020). <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Assistant Professor \u6c5f\u660e\u89aa asks a panel a question about the keyword \u201cgood death\u201d (\u5584\u7d42).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In line with Professor Shih\u2019s goals, some keywords, like Taiwan fu<\/em> (\u53f0\u8150) and concentric circles (\u540c\u5fc3\u5713) were extensions or reexaminations of those developed at previous workshops. Newcomers and veteran scholars alike showed themselves to be on the cutting edge of research and theoretical creation, exploring new ways of understanding the world through the lens of Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Distinguished Professor Chen Ruey-lin speaking at the closing ceremony on September 20.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The closing ceremony was led by Distinguished Professor Chen Ruey-lin, who is also chairman of Keywords of Taiwan Theory Promotional Committee. In his remarks, he highlighted the excellent progress already made since the publication of the first Keywords volume in 2019, with many proposals and papers already taking the theoretical tools of these workshops out of the abstract and into concrete case studies. Professor Chen encouraged participants to further refine their research by publishing it in academic journals, and also to be willing to put these theoretical tools to use in other fields and languages. This will help raise their visibility, and eventually make them mainstream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the feedback and discussion from this workshop, the keywords and their papers will now undergo revision by presenters, and then another round of review by the Keywords of Taiwan Theory Review Committee. The best of the candidates will then be selected for inclusion in Keywords of Taiwan Theory III<\/em>\u300a\u53f0\u7063\u7406\u8ad6\u95dc\u9375\u8a5eIII\u300b, which is expected to be published in late 2027 or early 2028. We look forward to reading the refined explorations of these keywords and using them in future research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full schedule and roster of presentations here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting by Gregory Laslo (\u6a13\u514b\u5df1)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On September 19-20, 2026, the International Taiwan Stud […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category--en","category-4-4","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10800"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10826,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10800\/revisions\/10826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsc.ntnu.edu.tw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}