Admiring this living room in this guesthouse in Xincheng, minutes from the gate of Taroko Gorge, I am forced to consider what a villager from, say, northeastern Tibet/Western China would do with such space!
I came to Taiwan as a Fulbright Scholar-Teacher-Artist, and all three paths have been full of discovery. My topic is the human-bird myths that are found in cultures around the world, and that have inspired my own sculptures; I wanted to see how this theme played out in Taiwan’s rich cultural mix. My goal was to collect images and stories, then work toward sharing knowledge visually and linking this imagery with real birds and environmental issues today. I pursued my visual research from the day I arrived in Taipei, looking around me for examples of human-bird connections in diverse aspects of life in Taiwan. I found them in traditional and contemporary settings, in temples, museums, malls, and movies. As an intuitive artist-researcher, I visited as many sites as I could, took photos, and sketched on an iPad. In the streets of Taipei, I immediately noticed posters that show the ageless human urge to fly like a bird and communicate with worlds beyond our own. Current films and fantasies, like Return of the Condor Heroes and Harry Potter, often feature winged humans, or magical individuals with bird companions, who may use their super-human talents for good or evil. The human-bird imagery
A key part of any Fulbright Taiwan application is “Why Taiwan?” Why does an applicant want to come to Taiwan and why is it necessary to come to Taiwan for the proposed work? For many participants in the Fulbright program, there are clear connections as part of historical, political and cultural study. As a biological scientist with a background of studying evolution in temperate to Arctic fishes, how did my research bring me to Taiwan? Flatfishes, the subject of my Fulbright fellowship, are a striking group of fishes with a distinct body plan. In the more than 850 species of flatfishes, both eyes are found on the same side of the head (Figure 1). These are iconic fishes of the Northern Hemisphere. Halibut and flounder are well known to the general public. Commercial and personal fishing efforts target these fishes in the cool waters of North America, Europe and Asia. However, most flatfishes are actually quite small and they may be found circumglobally in marine waters (Figure 2). Not restricted to near-shore marine habitats, flatfishes may be found from the deep sea to freshwaters from the tropics to the poles. Scientific study, though, has focused on
Although I have lived most of my life in China, my Fulbright scholarship was the first time I had been to Taiwan. I had heard much about the beautiful island, and other members of my family had visited and told me stories, but I’d never had the chance to go. And as was to be expected, Taiwan was a beautiful place, with lush hills, beautiful beaches, hot springs, and tons of great hiking trails. Even if it rained constantly in Taipei, the people were very friendly and the city was clean, convenient and quite safe, and I was able to explore many parts of the island in my time there. However, for my Fulbright fellowship, I was not there to enjoy the beauty of Taiwan – quite the contrary, since my research tasked me with looking at the side of life here that no one usually talks about: the invisible labor of migrant workers (often called the “maid trade”), the underside of the Taiwanese economy necessitated by flaws in the nation and region’s infrastructure and social systems. Specifically, I was looking at the system and mechanisms that allowed the foreign migrant domestic worker market to flourish in Taiwan,
When I arrived in Taipei two years ago, I knew relatively little about local Taiwanese culture or issues. With an undergraduate background in English and Chinese, most of my academic knowledge was limited to English literature and the politics of mainland China. I was drawn to Taiwan by its reputation for vibrant democracy, encouraged by professors and friends alike who raved about Taiwan’s open educational environment, remarkable food scene, and multicultural colonial history. Through the generosity of Fulbright and the Taiwanese government, over the past two years my understanding of this island has changed and grown, along with my research interests at National Chengchi University. When I first came to NCCU, I intended to study global climate change policy. But after two years of living in Taipei and engaging with local community through volunteer opportunities at local shelters, language exchanges with classmates, and more, I’ve chosen a thesis topic closer to (my new) home: Taiwanese fertility. Low fertility is one of many demographic trends affecting Taiwan, and an issue that will only grow in social, economic, and political importance in the years to come. Since I moved to Taiwan in 2016, the political landscape of the
During the 2016-2017 academic year, I am honored to have spent ten months at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Modern History while on a Fulbright grant for American graduate students (U.S. fellows). My Taipei-based project, A Chameleonic Power: The Republic of China’s Encounter with the Decolonizing World, 1942-1971, has been a component of my dissertation research in the field of diplomatic history. The overarching theme concerns the quiet advocacy of Nationalist Chinese statesmen at the height of the Cold War. During that period, representatives of the ROC journeyed to distant capitals in West Asia, Africa, Europe, and beyond in order to normalize relations of states and sub-national groups with the government in Taiwan, an island about which much of the world knew little. For this project, I have utilized the wealth of archival and library holdings open to foreign researchers in and around Taipei, and regret having to leave it all so soon. When I arrived here last September, with only a piece of luggage plus a backpack, the first order of business was to quickly find a place to live. Having lived abroad for significant periods of time before entering graduate school, I can attest that
This project, “Picturing Animals in Paris: Manet’s Bestiary and Naturalism” was conducted from August 2015 through July 2016, and made possible by the generous research grant from TUSA (Top Universities Strategic Alliance), Ministry of Education, of Taiwan, in association with Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, as well as a partial grant from Fulbright Foundation. As a TUSA and Fulbright scholar affiliated to the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, I have been able to expand the scope of my research in modern art and culture, as well as professional contact. This project investigates the connections in Manet’s animal subjects and contemporary naturalist observations. As planned, I study how Manet depicted dog breeds and postures, as well as cat theatrics, in relation to the identity of personages, within the context of France’s response to the new interest in biology during 1830-1880. Manet’s bestiary shall be compared to contemporary illustrations of La Fontaine’s fables, primarily the works of J.J. Grandville, Gustave Doré and Eugène Lambert. Beyond that, I probed into the understanding of East Asian art in Manet’s circle. The project seeks to explain how Manet reflected the changing relationship of humans and animals within
This past year has been a whirlwind of changes for me. When I first landed in Taiwan, I only had a surface-level understanding of its people and culture. I had just finished a year-long program in China and was excited to experience something different. At the time, I had expected to enjoy my stay in Taiwan, but I did not expect it to dramatically alter my views about the world or my path in the future. Studying in Taiwan At the beginning of my first semester at National Chengchi University (NCCU), I felt that the coursework was structured much differently from how I imagined a master’s program. The onus was on the students to push themselves with the content, and the professor did not explicitly put many requirements on the students. Nonetheless, I found the classroom discussion to be incredibly fascinating and something that I would not have been able to find in many other programs. This was because the cohort was made up of students from all around the world. I was often the only American in the room, and thus, I heard many different perspectives. Moreover, my professors were often current or
I once listened to an interview with a famous artist, who when asked if she cared whether people knew something about the original influences in her work, replied: “Well, it’s nice if they know, but it doesn’t really matter. Those things were just an excuse for me to get started.” As an artist, I feel a strong resonance with this statement. I am always looking for an excuse to get started, whether it is conscious or not. I think it’s common to want to ground yourself in something – anything – so that you feel a sense of purpose or direction with your work. Do I need my audience to know and understand this grounding? Not necessarily in its entirety. I aim for my work to impart nonverbal ideas, and for me these ideas stem from a collective knowledge of objects and spaces. To present work that does this, however, generally requires a substantive amount of research, much of which I do not expect an audience to need in order to appreciate my work. If someone decides to dig deeper, they will find themselves rewarded with a greater understanding of my thinking, a richer experience with
Long before I was selected for a Fulbright Scholarship to Taiwan, I spent most of my life on a different island across the Pacific Ocean. I was born and raised in Hawaii, a multicultural community known for its diversity. Despite my Chinese and Japanese heritage, I never considered myself “Asian-American.” I was just American. In communities like Hawaii, American people embrace and celebrate each other’s cultures. We demonstrate our commitment to American values, such as freedom and equality. We believe in the “American Dream,” the idea that anyone who is willing to work hard may achieve some level of success. We may not always agree on what is “right,” but we respect each other enough to maturely discuss, negotiate, and overcome those differences. One could say this is an idealized image of America, a naïve one that does not clearly capture the struggle, violence, and hatred that still exists in America today. But I believe that the sense of love, pride, and belief in these fundamental values will always overcome those hardships. My undergraduate education at the US Air Force Academy highlighted and reinforced this image. I found myself surrounded by people who, despite
