Taiwan’s Modern Identity Reimagined: Becoming Taiwanese (Routledge Research on Taiwan Series) - Hardcover

Haddon, Rosemary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 104117487X ISBN 13: 9781041174875

Publisher: Routledge, 2026

Synopsis

This book examines the formation of Taiwan’s modern identity during the course of the twentieth century and its intersection with the “new” Taiwanese identity.

Mapping the identity formation to the successive regimes of the twentieth century that are colonial, neocolonial, and nationalistic, this book traverses the spaces of history, culture, politics, and literature to arrive at the ontological performance of becoming Taiwanese. It argues that Taiwan’s modern identity bears the footprint of its successive hegemonies, shaped by the transition from one form of othering to another and from one form of becoming to another. By interpreting the salient events of the historical past that shaped the identity and explaining the transition to the present, the chapters of this book conclude that the ontologies of becoming Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese structure the architecture of Taiwan’s identity.

Comprising invaluable reading material for students and scholars of Taiwan studies and East Asian history, this book will also be of special interest to scholars of cultural studies, colonialism and postcolonialism, identity theory, and international relations.

About this title

About the Author

Rosemary Haddon is an independent scholar and former senior lecturer in Chinese and Chinese program coordinator at Massey University, New Zealand.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 104117487X
• ISBN 13: 9781041174875
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244