From Social Visibility to Political Invisibility

The School in Nationalist Taiwan as Fulcrum for an Evolving World Ethos

Allen Chun author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Springer Verlag, Singapore

Published:16th May '23

Should be back in stock very soon

From Social Visibility to Political Invisibility cover

This book began as a year-long ethnography of a school in Taiwan in 1991 then evolved more into a historical sociology of national formation and its cultural mindset.  Cultural nationalism is a widely debated but poorly understood process.  Contrary to prevailing perceptions, the Cold War may have given way to a more progressive open society, but the politicization of ethnicity hardened a more deeply entrenched cultural frame of mind.  Instead of liberating an indigenous reality, Taiwanese consciousness has ironically polarized the political dead ends of reunification and independence.  In the final analysis, the ethnography can serve as a paradigmatic case study for critical cultural studies. There are clear ramifications also for a comparative study of the cultural politics of other Chinese speaking or Asian societies and their histories.

“This fascinating book offers a powerful corrective to the lazy generalities about ‘hegemonic colonial Western modernity’ that today dominate so much anthropological and educational scholarship. … his acute analysis of education and state formation in modern Taiwan means that those who stay the course will find their effort well rewarded.” (Edward Vickers, The China Quarterly, November 3, 2023)

ISBN: 9789819920174

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

291 pages