Becoming Japanese: Colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation (9780520225534): Leo T. S. Ching: Books

Amazon.com: Becoming Japanese: Colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation (9780520225534): Leo T. S. Ching: Books

Becoming Japanese: Colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation 0th Edition
by Leo T. S. Ching  (Author)

In 1895 Japan acquired Taiwan as its first formal colony after a resounding victory in the Sino-Japanese war. For the next fifty years, Japanese rule devastated and transformed the entire socioeconomic and political fabric of Taiwanese society. In Becoming Japanese, Leo Ching examines the formation of Taiwanese political and cultural identities under the dominant Japanese colonial discourse of assimilation (dôka) and imperialization (kôminka) from the early 1920s to the end of the Japanese Empire in 1945.

Becoming Japanese analyzes the ways in which the Taiwanese struggled, negotiated, and collaborated with Japanese colonialism during the cultural practices of assimilation and imperialization. It chronicles a historiography of colonial identity formations that delineates the shift from a collective and heterogeneous political horizon into a personal and inner struggle of "becoming Japanese." Representing Japanese colonialism in Taiwan as a topography of multiple associations and identifications made possible through the triangulation of imperialist Japan, nationalist China, and colonial Taiwan, Ching demonstrates the irreducible tension and contradiction inherent in the formations and transformations of colonial identities. Throughout the colonial period, Taiwanese elites imagined and constructed China as a discursive space where various forms of cultural identification and national affiliation were projected. Successfully bridging history and literary studies, this bold and imaginative book rethinks the history of Japanese rule in Taiwan by radically expanding its approach to colonial discourses.
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om the Back Cover
IN 1895, Japan acquired Taiwan as its first formal colony after a resounding victory in the Sino-Japanese war. For the next fifty years, Japanese rule devastated and transformed the entire socioeconomic and political fabric of Taiwanese society. In Becoming "Japanese", Leo Ching examines the formation of Taiwanese political and cultural identities under the dominant Japanese colonial discourse of assimilation (doka) and imperialization (kominka) from the early 1920s to the end of the Japanese Empire in 1945.

Becoming "Japanese" analyzes the ways in which the Taiwanese struggled, negotiated, and collaborated with Japanese colonialism during the cultural practices of assimilation and imperialization. It chronicles a historiography of colonial identity formations that delineates the shift from a collective and heterogeneous political horizon to a personal and inner struggle of becoming "Japanese".

Successfully bridging history and literary studies, this bold and imaginative book rethinks the history of Japanese rule in Taiwan by radically expanding its approach to colonial discourses. Showing the ways that Taiwanese identities were produced in the interstices of nationalist China, imperialist Japan, and colonial Taiwan, Ching transcends the national boundaries that all too often enclose our studies of colonial discourses. His deft analysis and movement from the colonial politics of nationalism to postcolonial identity politics in Taiwan change the way we look at both.
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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe nature of colonialism and its contemporary consequences.
ByAmazon Customeron December 16, 2002
Format: Paperback
This study is an excellent examination of Japanese colonialism in Taiwan and its consequences for the contemporary formation of national identity. Through examining not only the particular circumstances of Japan in Taiwan but also the nature of colonialism in general, Ching shows how colonialism is a social transformation which produces people of mixed identities. He draws upon "The Orphan of Asia" by Wu Zhuo-Liu as an example of this understanding. Ching also sets forth an interesting critique of postmodernism's hesitancy to draw judgments across cultural boundaries. The "miracle" of postwar Japan, essentially an almost immediate turn from complete external orientation to complete internal orientation and subjectivity, was made possible by the United States' appropriation of Japan's colonies and Japan's immediate alliance with the U.S. in the Cold War. Because of these factors, Japan never had to go through the harsh but important process of decolonization, and Ching shows how this failure affects the identity crisis of Taiwan today. Ultimately the book is oriented around "the politics of identity formation" in which Taiwan must come to hold a national identity which embraces the diversity of elements (Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, aboriginal, etc.) that have formed the ontology of Taiwan through history.
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5.0 out of 5 starsTaiwanesness
ByA.D. Kerslakeon November 12, 2002
Format: Paperback
This is a detailed account of the Taiwanese response to colonization under the Japanese. Liu adroitly illustrates the monumental changes afoot in Taiwan of the early 20th Century and builds a strong case to support the idea of a Taiwanese identity seperate from China. Liu follows the steps colonialization drive that can later be seen in the Chinese colonization under the KMT. At times the language bogs down in anthropological terms of art, but is no less a valueable addition to the pool of information available on Taiwan.
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5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent text
ByA customeron November 8, 2003
Format: Paperback
A great book drawing on postcolonial and postmodern thought that analyzes Japanese colonial rhetoric about Taiwan as well as different stages of Taiwanese identity-formation under colonization. Includes an analysis of Japanese representations of aborigines, a group that is often glossed over or ignored in books on Taiwan.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn incredible journey into the identity crises facing the Taiwanese
Byjer4jesuson May 4, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
While this book was very informative it was difficulty to read. BUT that is because the author's vocabulary caused me to learn a new language by the time I was finished. It is still worth the read. Highly recommended if you have a desire to learn about how outside influences can shape our identities. .
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4.0 out of 5 starsBecoming Japanese- Colonial Taiwan and The Politics of Identity Formation
ByLewis F. Kudlaon December 14, 2010
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
This book is an excellent examination of how Taiwan was transformed and governed by the Japanese between 1895 and 1945.
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5.0 out of 5 starsDifferences
ByAmazon Customeron August 13, 2002
Format: Paperback
The Taiwanese is once a part of Japanese,but now we are the Taiwanese,uneaqual to China. China is not eaqual to Japan,so how could China be eaqual to Taiwan? To say Taiwanese = Chinese is just China's excuse to occupy Taiwan,for China feel well-developed Taiwan is a BIG FAT SHEEP for them to eat.
Actually,I can say Chinese know nothing about Taiwanese traits and personailty. China would never be willing to understand it and communicate with us Taiwan,for Chinese is very self-focus arrogant people. So,to be nearset neighbor with China is the sadest fate for Taiwan. The book revealed the differences of Taiwanese and Chinese,focus on what is the life-experiecnce(historical)reasons of forming the "Taiwanese" identity. Readers can sense the logic a little from this book.
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4.0 out of 5 starsvery good!
ByAmazon Customeron July 29, 2001
Format: Paperback
I think it's a good book.It gave us(chinese,especially taiwanese) a lot of infromation about the history of taiwan,and the relationship between the japan and taiwan(china).It let us know more,it make us understand more.