Orphan of Taiwan: The Importance of Identity and Upbringing in the Mid-20th Century.

Abstract

Long perceived as an island bound by its past, ruled by external powers and largely overlooked, Taiwan nonetheless emerged as a strong and independent society moving away from authoritarian rule. Caught between Japanese colonial governance and subsequent Chinese leadership, Taiwan struggled to articulate an identity of its own. Drawing on personal interviews and published studies of Taiwanese adolescents, I developed a framework to examine how authoritarian rule shaped children’s identity formation in Taiwan. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, my research brings together three complementary primary sources to trace the emergence of a distinct Taiwanese identity. To further differentiate this study, I conducted an original oral history interview with a man born on the island in 1936.