Explaining National Identity

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, national identity has been one of the key discursive categories that has constituted the study of Taiwan. This has been found in work on nationalism, the independence movement, postcolonial studies, and writing on the issue of Taiwan’s international status and cross-straits relations.1 As a category within Taiwan Studies, interest in national identity has been a reflection of the political and social liberalization of the late 1980s and early 1990s, as Taiwanese nationalism has been established in the mainstream of Taiwanese politics. National identity has also emerged as a key scholarly category in response to the belligerent attitude of China toward Taiwan, including its threat of military action in the event of a declaration of “independence,” thus creating the notion of the Taiwan Straits as a “flashpoint.” However, national identity as a scholarly category has also had its own academic trajectory, moving from political science and international relations into cultural studies. As argued in chapter 1, a clear distinction between scholarly description and the described object (Taiwanese identity) is impossible to draw. In this way, the theme of national identity in scholarship on Taiwan has inscribed a trajectory of development of national identity in Taiwan itself, from a particular problem in international relations to a complex body of writing about identity and Taiwan’s place in the world in the context of ideas such as postcoloniality and globalization.KeywordsNational IdentityDemocratic Progressive PartyTaiwan StraitMiracle EconomyChinese IdentityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.