The SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies and the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines joint Contemporary Taiwan Indigenous Studies Project has entered its second year. Established in September 2017, fifteen scholars and doctoral students from around the world were invited to SOAS to deliver lectures ranging from contemporary Taiwan Indigenous People’s political participation, social movements, film and media, language and education, religion, music, gender issues, to material culture.

Following this success, the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies this year again invited seven international scholars to give ten lectures. Lecturers included Dr Kuan Da-wei and Dr David Blundell from National Chengchi University, Dr Hsieh Jolan and Dr Kerim Friedman from National Dong Hwa University, Dr Chen Chih-Fan from National Tsing Hua University, Dr Chiu Yu-bin from National Pingtung University, and Dr Wang Ting-Jieh from Chang Jung Christian University. Their topics include traditional territory and land justice, youth and jobs, environmental issues, identity recognition and language revitalization, literature and documentary film, with each lecture attracting a large audience. Together, this series of lectures and research projects will be collected for the purpose of publishing a combined handbook on contemporary Taiwan Indigenous Peoples.

Three documentary films were screened in addition to these fascinating lectures. These included Ça Fait Si Longtemps (漂流遇見你), Suming Carrying the Flag (扛旗子的人) and The Mountain (靈山). The first two documentary films had their international premiere at SOAS, with producer Ado Kaliting Pacidal and actor Suming of Suming Carrying the Flag joining the event to talk with the audience. On March 22 evening 7pm, the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies will present the award-winning documentary film Amis Hip Hop (阿美嘻哈). The director Dr Futuru Tsai will also join the event to have a Q&A session with the audience.

Dr Dafydd Fell, director of the SOAS Center of Taiwan Studies, expressed his gratitude for the Shung Ye Museum of Taiwan Formosan Aborigines’ cooperation over the past two years. He also expressed his hope that the “Taiwan Studies Programme” at SOAS can help expand student and public interest in contemporary Taiwan Indigenous Studies. All of the Contemporary Taiwan Indigenous Studies Lecture Series events can be found on the Centre’s website: https://www.soas.ac.uk/taiwanstudies/indigenous-studies/