Island of Memories. Postcolonial Historiography and Public Discourse in Contemporary Taiwan

Abstract

The re-discovery of Taiwanese history along with both official and local initiatives of cultural heritage and public commemorations constitutes an important postcolonial cultural phenomenon. This paper discusses the “memory boom” in post-martial law Taiwan and examines its implications in our understanding of history, culture, and modernity in East Asian context. The major arguments of this paper can be summarised in three parts. The first section introduces the emergence of new academic and public discourses in Taiwan in the post-martial law era. The second and main section offers four major examples of postcolonial historiography and public discourse including national commemoration, ethnic revival, the heritage movement and Taiwanese wartime experience. The final section further illustrates the features of Taiwan’s postcolonial historiography in terms of history and memory with topical discussions on the rethinking of the modernity question and the reinterpretation of Japanese colonial heritage.