A case study on the reforms of dance in higher education in Taiwan

Abstract

This case study focuses on a group of teachers’ and students’ opinions regarding the recent reforms in the dance department of Tainan University of Technology (TUT) in Taiwan. The author uses Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of forms of capital and symbolic violence to probe for the motivation, process and consequences of the changes brought about by reform, and her analysis exposes a form of symbolic violence derived from social aesthetic preferences. This is most clearly manifested in the cultural capital assigned to certain dance genres (ballet, modern dance or Chinese dance) at the expense of others. A serious consequence of this has been the reproduction of an unequal power structure at TUT and in Taiwan’s dance field in higher education in general, as those dancers specialising in the perceived ‘low’ forms are unable to obtain a university degree since dance majors are not offered in these low-ranking genres. Interviews with the respondents reveal that a rising awareness of the situation has led some agents to change their practices and perceptions of dance, though the current power structure may endure well into the future.