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Nationalist Social Sciences and the Fabrication of Subimperial Subjects in Taiwan

Nationalist Social Sciences and the Fabrication of Subimperial Subjects in Taiwan positions 8:1 © 2000 by Duke University Press positions 8:1 Spring 2000 since the late 1980s, ironically the time when capitalist globalization was gathering momentum and the economic interdependence of Taiwan and China expanded, from virtually nothing to being an important component for both countries. No less ironically, the nascent nationalist structure of feeling grew in the wake of the quick ebb and flow of democratic social protests in the latter half of the 1980s. What were initially experienced as social movements with unprecedented, radically democratic messages against Taiwan’s historical horizon were in reaction transfigured into a populism with a strong authoritarian bent. The incipient democratic public discourse created by the social movements was besieged by the undemocratic either/or discourses of independence versus unification and, alternatively, Taiwanese versus Chinese identity. Reflexivity and discussion were replaced by repressive side-taking and political correctness. Not only were the unificationists (i.e., the Chinese nationalists) declared politically suspicious and pushed to the political margin, but in the new Taiwanese nationalist discourse, those who refuse to take sides in this nationalist identity politics have come to be considered accomplices of the unificationists. Although both independentists and unificationists are undeniably nation-statists, the former have displaced http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions asia critique Duke University Press

Nationalist Social Sciences and the Fabrication of Subimperial Subjects in Taiwan

Chao, Kang; Johnson, Marshall
positions asia critique , Volume 8 (1) – Mar 1, 2000
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2000 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1067-9847
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-8-1-151
Publisher site
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Abstract

positions 8:1 © 2000 by Duke University Press positions 8:1 Spring 2000 since the late 1980s, ironically the time when capitalist globalization was gathering momentum and the economic interdependence of Taiwan and China expanded, from virtually nothing to being an important component for both countries. No less ironically, the nascent nationalist structure of feeling grew in the wake of the quick ebb and flow of democratic social protests in the latter half of the 1980s. What were initially experienced as social movements with unprecedented, radically democratic messages against Taiwan’s historical horizon were in reaction transfigured into a populism with a strong authoritarian bent. The incipient democratic public discourse created by the social movements was besieged by the undemocratic either/or discourses of independence versus unification and, alternatively, Taiwanese versus Chinese identity. Reflexivity and discussion were replaced by repressive side-taking and political correctness. Not only were the unificationists (i.e., the Chinese nationalists) declared politically suspicious and pushed to the political margin, but in the new Taiwanese nationalist discourse, those who refuse to take sides in this nationalist identity politics have come to be considered accomplices of the unificationists. Although both independentists and unificationists are undeniably nation-statists, the former have displaced

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positions asia critique – Duke University Press

Published: Mar 1, 2000

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