Migration and Diasporas
Panel
Shih Chang
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Ting Hsuan Tseng
University Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas, France
Shih Chang
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Chen Wei Lin
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Ting Hsuan Tseng
University Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas, France
Tsung-lun Wan
University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
What is the role of history and historical institutions in addressing migration issues? What do traditional and digital media platforms mean to migration communities in seeking for belonging and identity? Through the discussion of various practices, methods and case studies in/of Taiwan and its relations to other cities, nations and regions, this panel seeks to bridge historical and modern incidents of engaging migration experiences. Lin Chen Wei looks into the "first labor movement" in Zeelandia-Taiwan, which is known as the "Koeh Hoâi-It Incident" in 1652, to not only dig into historical material to explain the happenings of the revolt, but also to form conversation with social demonstration on migrant labour right issues in contemporary Taiwan. Taking a cultural turn, Chang Shih looks at how current Southeast Asian immigrant communities and their culture are being represented in two national museums in Taiwan, not only as a reminder of the crisis of representation, as the other is so often re-racialized, but also to open a dialogue on the issue of "multiculturalism" in cultural institutions that requires rigorous examination. Taking this issue to a different level is Tseng Ting Hsuan's paper, which explores the media participation of Southeast Asian immigrants in Taiwan through the radio program "Happiness United Nations". She offers both the views of the radio hosts and the participants to discuss the role of media platforms and its relation to sense of belonging in a place yet to call home. Continuing with the discussion on voices and social platforms, Wan Tsung Lun research on how Taiwanese migrants in Singapore reacts to Singlish on internet platforms as a stance-taking in an online ethnic enclave. His discovery points out how the use of language crosses ethnic and cultural boundaries and should not be seen as a fixed social and cultural representations of a homogeneous community. Coming from a range of different disciplinary and perspectives, these four papers aim to look into different sites of knowledge production of migration experience and their relations with local communities. This panel hopes to discover the importance of keeping diverse voices in representing, remembering and creating migration experiences, demonstrate how social incidents are being influenced by migration histories and show how various voices shaped each other and developed through space and time.