fulbright Taiwan online journal

fulbright Taiwan online journal

Tag: taiwan

Dominique Murdock: English Teacher Training and Research through Culturally Responsive Teaching

Dominique Murdock is currently serving her second term as a Fulbright Taiwan grantee. She originally journeyed to Taiwan in 2016 as an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in Kinmen, and was later awarded a second and third grant from the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan) as a TEFL Trainer and Advisor. Being an African American female in Asia, she sometimes struggled to earn credibility as an educator. Therefore, she worked hard to include more cultural diversity in the classroom and training sessions. Dominique Murdock hails from Detroit, MI. Her home institution is The University Of Southern California, where she received her MAT: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.  

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Chris Upton: Rights and Rule-Crafting Processes in Taiwan’s Special Indigenous Courts

J. Christopher Upton’s research focuses on Taiwan’s newly created special indigenous courts. Chris conducted an in-depth ethnographic project concentrating on one of these courts, studying how the court crafted rules about indigenous customary practices and how indigenous litigants used the legal system to advance their own understandings of indigenous culture.  Chris Upton is a lawyer and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. During his Fulbright research, Chris was hosted by Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan and the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung, Taiwan.

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Lillygol Sedaghat: The Glitter of Garbage: Taiwan’s Innovation in Waste Management

Lillygol Sedaghat documented Taiwan’s waste management system and innovations in plastics and electronics recycling through film and digital media. She hopes to inspire conscious consumerism – the realization that every choice we make affects the environment – and spark a global discussion on trash with the #MyWasteMyWay. Using music videos, info-graphics, and maps to promote environmental education, she aims to transform people’s perceptions of trash from something disposable to something valuable.  Although she began her research with limited vocabulary, she believed in the importance of using Chinese as the language of choice for her field work and worked hard to improve her Mandarin. While she is still working on finding her voice, she acknowledges that the journey is long, but definitely worth it. Lillygol Sedaghat is a multi-media environmental journalist and speaker focusing on the intersection among science, systems, and people. She is a 2017-18 Fulbright–National Geographic Digital Storyteller. She is an active contributor to National Geographic’s “Planet or Plastic?” global campaign. Lillygol has spoken at UN World Environment Day, Influence Nation Summit DC, and National Geographic on her research. She completed a B.A. in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley and was named 5 Under 25: Leaders

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Michelle Phillips: Repairing (and Exploiting) the Underclass Image

Michelle Phillips spent her Fulbright year in Taiwan to research on the maid trade system and compares it with the one in Hong Kong. Because of her multilingual background, she can act as a bridge between employers and domestic workers. After trust was built with the domestic workers, she successfully interviewed over 150 people in total. Later, she will bring the experiences and observations from her research to propose changes in Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines regarding better protections for migrant workers and their employers. Michelle Phillips is a 4th-year Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at UC Berkeley. Her current research is focused on the intersection of business, politics and human rights, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. She is focusing on questions ranging from the role of the state in international trade and migration, the effectiveness of certain policies as well as their unintended consequences, and the impact of business interests on the implementation and consistency of government intervention. In an increasingly interconnected global economy, she believes it is crucial to understand what motivates the people behind these institutions, as well as the de facto impact of strategies they implement.  

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Andrew Paulsen: Implementing Eastern Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching Math in Urban High Schools

Paulsen received Fulbright ‘Distinguished Awards in Teaching’ Scholar to research eastern mathematics pedagogy. Conducting most of his research on hundreds of classroom observations throughout Taiwan. Including Taiwanese teaching techniques, education policy, and culture, and offered recommendations on how to implement these ideas in urban schools throughout the United States. Andrew Paulsen is currently the Lead Math Teacher and an Instruction Coach at East Side High School, the largest comprehensive high school in Newark, New Jersey. Originally from Levittown, New York, Andrew received his B.A. from Marist College, his Master is in educational leadership, management, & policy from Seton Hall University, and his Ed.M. in public school leadership from Columbia University’s Teachers College.  

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Pei-Fen Chang: Effectiveness of the Occupation-Based Cultural Heritage Intervention

With the accelerating of an aging society, more and more people experience relocation in their late life. Dr. Pei-Fan Chang examined occupation-based cultural heritage intervention techniques for older adults who experienced recent relocation to see whether the occupational adaptation improves their quality of life. Pei-Fan Chang is an associate professor in the school of Occupational Therapy at Texas Woman’s University. Her host institution in Taiwan is the department of occupational therapy and the Institute of behavioral science at Chang Gung University.  

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Valerie Holton: Collaborative Curiosity: Designing Community-Engaged Research

Dr. Valerie Holton taught a course on community-engaged research (CEnR) at National Taiwan University during her Fulbright year. Together, she and her students learned how to collaborate and generated new knowledge on building a healthier community. Outside of the classroom, Valerie was able to interact with local people in Taiwan through various community activities. There she experienced dynamic cultural exchanges and saw the potential of future collaboration. Dr. Holton is the executive editor of CUMU’s Metropolitan Universities journal (MUJ), a quarterly, peer-reviewed outlet for scholarship on cutting-edge issues in higher education. Valerie was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in the Department of Social Work at National Taiwan University in 2018. She is currently an assistant professor in the School of Nursing and Institute of Community Health Care at National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan.

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Peilei Fan: Urbanization and Environmental Change: Comparative Analysis of Taipei and Shanghai

Being an expert in urban development condition of East Asia, Peilei Fan spent the first half of her Fulbright Cross-strait Studies grant in Taipei, Taiwan. She developed an urban development index and framework, and will continue her research in Shanghai, China. In the video, she also shared her observations and experiences on the education system and natural outings in Taiwan. Dr. Peilei Fan is an associate professor of Urban & Regional Planning in the School of Planning, Design, and Construction at Michigan State University. She holds a joint research appointment at the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations. Dr. Fan’s research focuses on the urban environment, innovation and economic development. She is a Fulbright US Scholar of Cross-Strait Studies Program for 2017-2018 in Taipei and Shanghai.

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Jennifer Huang: Weaving Identity: Atayal Textile Practices in Taiwan

Art and culture is one way to preserve, promote and respect indigenous cultures and their histories. Jennifer Huang studied indigenous Atayal weaving in Taiwan and created artworks for two exhibitions inspired by this experience. Her work aims to reflect the cultural narratives that textiles can unravel. Jennifer Chen-su Huang is an artist, writer, and object-maker based in Chicago, IL. This past year, she has been researching indigenous Atayal weaving in Taiwan. She holds a M.F.A. in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a B.A. in Art Practice with a minor in Art History from University of California, Berkeley.

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Research & Reflections

fulbright taiwan online journal