On October 5, 2024, the IU Taiwan Studies Initiative hosted its first Midwest Taiwan Studies Graduate Workshop, a one-day, in-person event that invited graduate and undergraduate students from IU, the Midwest, and beyond to present their research on Taiwan. This year’s workshop was titled “Exploring Taiwan: From Historical Roots to Contemporary Issues,” and aimed to foster in-depth discussions, facilitate knowledge exchange, and highlight new research concerning Taiwan while bringing knowledge about Taiwan to the IU Bloomington community.
The workshop’s morning session, entitled 
“Culture and Identity in Taiwan: National History, Language, and Family” was moderated by IU’s own I-Lin Liu, a PhD student, and Dr. Fei Hsien Wang, an assistant professor in the department of History. Participants and attendees heard presentations from four graduate students on a range of topics, including the evolution of Taiwanese nationalism after 1945 (Zhanhao Zhang, Indiana University), Taiwan’s national museums (Pin-Yi Li, University of Wisconsin-Madison), Taiwanese youth and linguistic identity (Paul Ueda, Ohio State University), and family businesses in Qing dynasty era Taiwan (Ying-Yi Lin, Stanford University).
Three undergraduate students at IU – Harper Strahan, Leah English, and Xavier Alarie – also had the chance to present their research concerning China-Taiwan relations in a morning lightning session, moderated by IU graduate student Fang-Yu Yang.
After enjoying lunch from a local Bloomington Taiwanese restaurant, Judy’s Kitchen, workshop participants reconvened for a second session, titled “Governance and Representation in Taiwan: Elections, Politics, and Regulatory Challenges,” which was moderated by IU graduate student Sharlene Chen and Dr. Sara Friedman, a professor in IU’s departments of Anthropology and Gender Studies. During this panel, graduates presented their research on contemporary political issues facing Taiwan, including transgender experiences and social movements in Taiwan (Panchen Lo, University of Minnesota), the role of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples in elections (Margaret Yun-Pu Tu, University of Washington), and Taiwan’s legislative attempts to regulate harmful online content (Hsin-Yu Chen, Indiana University).
The event concluded with a keynote speech given by Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang, associate professor at the University of Missouri, entitled “The Making of Chiang Kai-shek’s “Righteous Compatriots”: Korean War, First Strait Crisis, and the Displacement of Dachen Islanders across the Taiwan Strait.”
Across this one-day workshop, participants and attendees were able to explore different areas of Taiwanese history, culture, and politics, and engage in thoughtful discussions about the island’s past, present, and future.
This event was organized by Sharlene Chen, I-Lin Liu, Jeffery Shih-Chieh Wang, Fang-Yu Yang, and Dr. Fei-Hsien Wang and made possible through support from the East Asian Studies Center and funding from the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago. It attracted a diverse range of attendees, including presenters from six different universities across the U.S., graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty, and staff, and enabled the Taiwan Studies Initiative to bring Taiwan and Bloomington closer together.
For more information about Taiwan Studies Initiative events like this one, see the Taiwan Studies Initiative website or email taiwansp@iu.edu.
Post by Taiwan Studies student program assistant, Morgan Short.
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