臺灣文學虛擬博物館-Identity: Rediscovering Oneself

SAILING ONTO THE WORLD STAGE：THEMES IN TAIWAN LITERATURE

Identity: Rediscovering Oneself

Taiwan is a country that has been colonized multiple times and hosts many immigrants of diverse backgrounds. Its complex history has fostered the equally complex development of Taiwan's literature. The question "Who am I?" has always been an important theme in Taiwan's literature.

Having been ruled by multiple colonial regimes, Taiwanese people's identity has constantly shifted between Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese. Through narratives of these different regimes and their own memories, Taiwan's writers have attempted to reconstruct history, and each have pursued identity from their own perspectives.

When it comes to the dynamics of history, you're doomed to be powerless in every aspect. Even if you hold certain beliefs and are willing to contribute your strength in some way, others may not necessarily trust you. They might even suspect you are a spy. In this regard, you are truly an orphan.

——Wu Cho-Liu: Orphan of Asia (1946)

Wu Cho-Liu depicts the struggles and self-contradictions of an intellectual's Taiwanese, Japanese, and Chinese identities during the era of Japanese colonization.

On the other hand, Taiwan's indigenous peoples have also experienced the assimilation policies of different regimes. Indigenous subjectivity has been continuously marginalized, or even denied. Since the 1980s, indigenous writers have used writing to reclaim their own names and reconstruct their self-identity.

I really enjoy being an elementary school teacher. I especially love leading a group of adorable and innocent first graders, being their second mother, and teaching them to study well enough to compete with people in Taiwan. When one, ten, a hundred Tao children can go to high school and university, Tao people will make progress, and teachers will no longer call us primitive, stupid, or backwards.

——Syaman Rapongan: Eyes of the Sky (2012)

Focusing on Syapen Umalanmu's family, the story illustrates how Tao people are marginalized by Taiwan's mainstream society, and how the impact of Christian beliefs and cultural clashes with Han society also contribute to the decline of traditional Tao culture.

Since 2000, writers have not only used writing to reflect on the identity dilemma from different standpoints, but to also envision a future for Taiwan's diverse population, and gradually find answers to the question: "Who can I be?"

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