The 3-year project, Chair on Taiwan Studies, from July 2012 to June 2015, will promote research, dissemination of research, and curriculum development on Taiwan Studies at the University of Ottawa (UO). The activities of the Chair will be focused on, but not be limited to, sociology and anthropology. The chair will include support of graduate research and teaching in Taiwan, public lectures on Taiwan Studies, and support of Taiwan-related academic activities on the campus of the University of Ottawa.

Class on Taiwan Studies

2012-2013:

André Laliberté, Professor, School of Political Studies, and Chair of Taiwan Studies, taught a 4th year seminar in French: Politique comparée de Taiwan, Québec, et autres nations virtuelles (Comparative Politics of Taiwan, Quebec and other Virtual Nations).

2013-2014:

Scott Simon, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Chair of Taiwan Studies, taught a 4th year seminar in English: ANT4105 Anthropology of Taiwan.

2014-2015:

Scott Simon, Professor, School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, and Chair of Taiwan Studies, taught a 4th year seminar in French:  SOC 4505 THÈMES CHOISIS EN SOCIOLOGIE Sociologie comparative : Québec et Taïwan (Selected Topics in Sociology: Comparative Sociology: Québec and Taiwan).

Public Lectures

2012-2013:

1. Scott Simon, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Ottawa, «Sadyaq Balae! L'autochtonie formosane dans tous ses états», le 6 février 2013
2. Jérôme Soldani, Post-doctorant à la Chaire d’Études Taïwanaises de l’Université d’Ottawa, “Le cimetière des «Éléphants noirs»”, le 14 février 2013, 12 h
3. Scott Simon, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Ottawa, «Tragédie, réveil et régénération: Conférence commémorative des événements du 28 février 1947», le 28 février, 2013
4. Chih-Kung Liu, Representative of TECO in Canada, “The Cross-Strait Relations and Mainland Policy of the Republic of China”, March 30, 2013
5. Monash Jacobs, Professeur titulaire en Études et langue asiatiques à l’Université Monash à Melbourne, Australie, «Questions identitaires à Taiwan : autochtonie, dominations coloniales et démocratisation»("Reconsidering Taiwan: Aborigines, Colonial Rulers and Democratization."), le 17 avril 2013

2013-2014:

1. June Teufel Dreyer, University of Miami, “The Diaoyu(tai)-Senkaku Dispute: Its Stakes for East Asia,” September 19, 2013
2. Kimie Hara, University of Waterloo, “Senkaku/Diaoyu in the San Francisco System: Past, Present and Future,” November 27, 2013
3. A public screening of the film “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale”, with an introductory presentation by Scott Simon, February 3, 2014
4. Pi-chen Liu, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, «Chasse aux têtes, chasse aux cerfs : échange de vie et fertilité de l’homme chez les Kavalan de Taïwan» (“Head Hunting and Deer Hunting : the Exchange of Life and Male Fertility among the Kavalan of Taiwan”), April 1, 2014

2014-2015:

1. Representative Bruce Linghu, TECO, "Diaoyutai: Sovereignty seen from the Republic of China (Taiwan)," September 23, 2014
2. Charles Stafford, London School of Economics, “Two types of moral instruction in Taiwan,” October 23, 2014
3. Jean-François Dupré, Chercheur postdoctoral à la Chaire sur les études taïwanaises, «Reconnaissance et aménagement linguistiques à Taïwan: enjeux identitaires et politiques», le 6 novembre, 2014
4. Gérard Hervouet, Université Laval, «Les tensions maritimes en Asie orientale : Instrumentalisation, mutations et dérives », (Maritime tensions in East Asia : Instrumentalization, Mutations, and Consequences), November 13, 2014
5. Atsushi Nobayashi, National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku), Osaka, Japan, “Hunting Techniques among Taiwanese Indigenous Groups,” February 26, 2015
6. Teruki Tsunemoto, Director of the Centre for Ainu and Indigenous Studies and Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Hokkaido, “Indigenous Peoples in Asia: The Ainu in Japan and the Aboriginals in Taiwan” March 26, 2015

Postdoctoral Fellow

2012-2013:

Jérôme Soldani (Ph.D., 2012, Anthropology, l’Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France) was in residence at the University of Ottawa from October 2012 to July 2013. His Ph.D. dissertation, on baseball in Taiwan, is entitled La fabrique d’une passion nationale. Une anthropologie du baseball à Taïwan. During his tenure at the University of Ottawa, he edited a special edition of the journal Moussons, wrote four journal articles and two book reviews. He also submitted a book proposal, based on his Ph.D. dissertation, to the University of Laval Press, and an article to the journal Anthropologie et Sociétés. He presented his research at one international conference, and in two public lectures at the University of Ottawa. As part of his duties at the Taiwan Chair, he organized the Young Scholars Conference, spoke in two classes, spoke at one chair event, and worked on various Chair projects. He also worked closely with University of Ottawa graduate students, advising them on new projects in Taiwan Studies.

2013-2014:

Dr. Nathalie Boucher (Ph.D., Études urbaines, INRS, Montréal, 2012) wrote her thesis, entitled Vies et morts des espaces publics à Los Angeles : fragmentation et interactions urbaines (Life and Death in Public Space in Los Angeles: Fragmentation and Urban Interactions). From 2012 to 2013, she conducted research in Australia on sociability in public baths and beaches. The Taiwan Chair will give her financial support for a comparative project, exploring hot springs culture in Taipei, during the summer of 2014. The title of her research project is :  La vie sociale de l'eau; sociabilité dans les espaces publics aquatiques de Taïwan (The Social Live of Water : Sociability in the Public Aquatic Spaces of Taiwan).  During her postdoctoral fellowship at Ottawa, she wrote three articles, published two book chapters, and will have presented the results of her research at two international conferences (IUAES in Chiba, Japan; and the ISA World Congress of Sociology, Yokohama). In March 2014, she was invited to New York University, where she delivered a lecture and facilitated a seminar on her work.

2014-2015:

Jean-François Dupré (Ph.D., 2014, Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong), His papers published, presented at conferences or submitted for review:

« Comprendre la Révolution des parapluies à Hong Kong » [Understanding the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong]. Optimum Online: The Journal of Public Sector Management, 45(1).

Complétude institutionnelle et sécurité linguistique dans la grande Chine: Les Hakka à Hong Kong et à Taïwan. Paper presented at workshop themed La sécurité linguistique des minorités: les promesses et des pièges de la complétude institutionnelle, Québec Political Science Association, Concordia University, in May 2015.

“Democratization, National Identity, and Party Cleavage Structures: comparing Taiwan and Hong Kong”. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Hong Kong Sociological Association on “Managing Integration and Transformation in Greater China”, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, in December 2014.

The Politics of Language in Taiwan: Ethnicity, Identity and the Party System (book proposal under review at Routledge, submitted March 2015).

Culture Politics and Recognition: The Party System as Context of Choice (article under review at Ethnic and Racial Studies, submitted February 2015).

Legislating Language in Taiwan: From Equality to Development to Status Quo (article under review at Language Policy, submitted September 2014).

Graduate scholarships

2012-2013:

1. Robert Pelletier, Tug of War: Muslim Mainlanders as Ethnic Subgroup (under the supervision of Scott Simon)
2. Matthieu Fontaine, Les petits cafés flâneurs et la jeunesse libertine de Taipei, une identité cosmopolite corsée au café (under the supervision of Scott Simon)
3. Andréanne Laverdière, :La reconnaissance du pluralisme religieux par la République de Chine au sein de son système scolaire (under the supervision of André Laliberté)

2013-2014:

1. Robert Pelletier, Tug of War: Muslim Mainlanders as Ethnic Subgroup
2. Matthieu Fontaine, Les petits cafés flâneurs et la jeunesse libertine de Taipei, une identité cosmopolite corsée au café
3. Andréanne Laverdière, L’évolution de la représentation de la religion au sein des manuels scolaires à Taïwan : quelle éducation à la diversité?
4. Arden McBride, Land Rights and Tourism: The case of the Thao people of Sun Moon Lake

2014-2015:

1. Arden McBride (M.A. student under the supervision of Scott Simon), Land Rights and Tourism: The case of the Thao people of Sun Moon Lake
2. Alexandre Syvrais-Gallant (Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of André Laliberté), Mandarin training and preparation for research on "Religious Organizations and Democratization in Taiwan.”
3. Achille Forest (M.A. student under the supervision of Scott Simon), Mandarin training and preparation for research on “The Exile of a State: Questions of Sovereignty and Identity within the Republic of China.”

Conferences and Workshops

1. Young Scholar Workshop on Taiwan at the University of Ottawa, March 22-23, 2013. This two-day workshop, modelled on similar activities in France, brought together MA and Ph.D. scholars in Taiwan Studies from Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, and Québec City, to present their research projects at various stages in the process (research proposals, finished research reports). The goal is to create a Canadian community of Taiwan Studies scholars amidst the next generation of university professors.

October 4-5, 2013, the university hosted a two-day conference on the topic of “Legal Pluralism, Rule of Law, and Human Rights: Learning from Each Other” with scholars from Taiwan, Mainland China, and Canada. Due to the topic of the conference, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development offered a grant of $10,000 for the conference, making it unnecessary for the Chair to finance the conference. This will make it possible for the Chair’s budget to be reallocated to more Taiwan events and postdoctoral field research in Taiwan. This high level international conference was highlighted in the Winter 2014 issue of Research Perspectives, and the Taiwan Chair was named in the article. This conference, held on Chatham House principles, was attended by Canadian diplomats as well as university-based scholars.