Ep 145 | The Golden Age of Taiwan Studies: Our Interview with University of London’s Dr. Dafydd Fell

Aug 23, 2021

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A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

This week I’m welcoming back Dr. Dafydd Fell to talk about the SOAS Center of Taiwan Studies at the University of London. They just had their summer school program in July, which is free and open to the public. It’s a tremendous resource for people interested in learning more about Taiwan. The program included speakers on the topics of Taiwan’s anti-nuclear movement, environmental activism and movements, Taiwan’s Post New Wave Cinema, how to write about Taiwan for a general audience, the campaign to end the death penalty in Taiwan, just to name a few. You can check out their YouTube channel which has videos from the summer school program and other SOAS Center of Taiwan Studies events. Dr. Fell and I talked about how Taiwan studies has changed over the past 20 years and some of the challenges faced by Taiwan studies programs in general.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

The establishment of the SOAS Taiwan Studies Program at the University of London
How there weren’t any other Taiwan Studies programs in Europe when the SOAS Taiwan Studies Program at the University of London was established in 1999
SOAS Taiwan Studies program was founded by Professor Robert Ash
Establishment of European Association of Taiwan Studies in 2004
Taiwan Studies programs in Europe
How we are currently in a Golden Age of Taiwan Studies
Taiwan studies programs in Europe vs. the U.S.
The collaboration between SOAS Taiwan Studies program and the University of Texas at Austin Taiwan Studies program
The challenges faced by Taiwan Studies programs
How the SOAS Taiwan Studies program’s focuses on Taiwan Studies teaching programs and publication (of books that come out of conferences)
The types of classes and programs offered at the SOAS Taiwan Studies Program
Prominent political figures from Taiwan that have been invited to speak at SOAS
The second world congress of Taiwan Studies at SOAS (with 80 speakers and 500 in person attendees)
How the SOAS Taiwan Studies Program organizes 50-70 events per year
How the events present interesting opportunities for students to actually meet some of the figures on their reading lists
What graduates of the SOAS Taiwan Studies Program have gone on to do
The major research contributions that have some out of SOAS Taiwan Studies Program
The challenges of funding Taiwan Studies programs
Whether more Taiwan Studies degree programs will be developed worldwide
The relationship between Chinese and Taiwanese studies programs
The SOAS Taiwan Studies Program Summer School which has been running since 2007