UCLA and National Taiwan Normal University join hands to study Taiwan during the Cold War | National Taiwan Normal University | UCLA | Academic seminar

[The Epoch Times, April 25, 2024]The 7th International Academic Symposium, co-organized by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), was held from April 19 to 20. Held at UCLA, the organizer is the Asia Pacific Center under UCLA International College.

The theme of the seminar is “Rethinking Cold War Culture and History in Taiwan.” In addition to scholars from National Taiwan Normal University and UCLA, participants also included many professors from top universities such as Princeton University, University of Washington, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Toronto in Canada, Stockholm University in Sweden, and National Cheng Kung University. This cross-disciplinary and cross-field exchange and discussion deepened the participants’ understanding and understanding of this topic, and also inspired more inspiration and cooperation opportunities. Many teachers, students, and community scholars from UCLA and Southern California schools also actively participated in the interactive exchanges.

This international symposium is one of the important annual activities of the Taiwan Studies Initiative (UCLA-NTNU Taiwan Studies Initiative) jointly promoted by UCLA and National Taiwan Normal University. It is led and planned by UCLA Professor Shu-mei Shih and doctoral candidate Faye Lu. A total of 17 papers were published in the two-day conference and there were 6 themed sessions, namely “Taiwan’s Position in the Global Cold War”, “Critical Methods of Chinese Culturalness in Taiwan during the Cold War”, and “Taiwan’s Culture and Historical Memory during the Cold War” , “Americanism in Taiwan”, “Cold War Sentiments of Taiwanese Americans”, and “Critical Intervention in Cold War Studies” were discussed, covering topics including ethnicity, imperialism, colonization and colonial settlement, immigration, gender , archipelagic awareness, and more.

During the opening ceremony, Professor David Kim, Vice President of International Studies at UCLA, Professor Zhou Min, Director of the Asia Pacific Center, Professor Shi Shumei (Director of the UCLA-NTNU Taiwan Studies Program and Professor of the Department of Asian Languages ​​and Cultures, Department of Comparative Literature, and Department of Asian American Studies) and Lu Qi Yu, each delivered a welcome speech. The three professors thanked National Taiwan Normal University for its contribution to exchanges between the two universities and for the cooperation of scholars in various fields. They also emphasized the importance of the theme of this seminar and Taiwan studies, and reviewed the successful experiences of the previous six international seminars. Lu Qiyu also shared her experience and gains from participating in this annual conference over the years. She said that she was honored to host an academic conference on topics closely related to her research direction.

Each paper published in the seminar explored Taiwan’s unique situation during the Cold War from the perspective of history, politics, literature, etc.; while pondering how to break away from the theoretical framework of the new and old Cold War, it demonstrated Taiwan’s unique situation in global disputes. potential. The closing symposium was chaired by Professor Shi Shumei. Participants expressed their opinions and achieved consensus on planning for the compilation of this year’s papers. This meeting was a complete success and achieved fruitful results, which will effectively promote the continued in-depth study of Taiwan during the Cold War in the future. ◇

Editor in charge: Fang Ping