Faculty of ManagementComenius University Bratislava

Events

Food and Identity: Tibetan Ethnic Representation in Taiwan on October 30, 2024

Taiwan Lecture Series

Date: 30.10.2024

Presenter: Dr. Ute Wallenböck,  

Contact: uwallenbuni-bonn.de 

Affiliation: Department of Tibetan and Mongolian Studies, University of Bonn, Germany


Food plays a significant role in both identity formation and social life. For diasporic communities in particular, it carries not only memories and traditions but also their culinary practices. The preparation, serving, and consumption of ‘traditional’ foods become a vital means of preserving cultural identity in a foreign setting. Drawing on findings from my ethnographic fieldwork in Taiwan in early 2024, I examine the complex relationship between food, identity, and representation within the Tibetan diasporic community in Taiwan. I focus on how culinary practices, especially in the context of ethnic businesses, play a key role in preserving cultural heritage and negotiating identity, with an emphasis on Tibetan restaurants in Taiwan.

Bio of presenter: Ute Wallenböck is a research associate at the Department of Mongolian and Tibetan Studies at the University of Bonn. She has an academic background in Sinology and Tibetology, holding a PhD in Chinese Studies from the University of Vienna. Following her doctoral studies, she contributed to the Sinophone Borderlands project at Palacký University Olomouc and later worked in the Department of Chinese Studies at Masaryk University in Brno. Her research centers on the Sinophone and Tibetophone borderlands, along with the Tibetan diaspora in Asia and Europe, exploring topis of identity, memory, cultural encounters, and the significance of food in the context of cultural transmission.


Falling in and out of love with Taiwan: Towards a more mature relationship? on November 6, 2024

Date: 06.11.2024

Presenter: Prof. Dr. Andreas Fulda  

Contact: Andreas.Fuldanottingham.ac.uk

Affiliation: School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

Title: Human rights in Taiwan: What are the roadblocks in an otherwise progressive path? on November 20, 2024

Date: 20.11.2024

Presenter: Kristína Kironská

Advocacy Director

Contact: kironskaceias.eu

Affiliation: Central European Institute of Asian Studies, Bratislava


Despite being excluded from the United Nations (UN), Taiwan voluntarily participated in numerous international treaties related to human rights, contributing to its positive reputation in this field. Additionally, Taiwan's non-governmental and human rights sector is very diverse and active. Civil society has played a crucial role in pushing Taiwan to come to terms with its dark past, the White Terror, and to ensure transitional justice and acceptance of international human rights treaties. NGOs enjoy significant support and serve as a source of soft power abroad, ensuring Taiwan's presence in institutions or platforms where its international political status would otherwise not allow it. NGOs are also instrumental in advocating for women's rights and LGBTQI+ rights, contributing to the increased participation of women in politics and the adoption of the same-sex marriage law. Today, Taiwan presents itself as the only culturally Chinese democracy and one of the advanced democracies in Asia, alongside Japan and South Korea. However, despite its progressive tendencies, Taiwan still faces a number of human rights challenges. For example, why does a modern country like Taiwan lack a refugee policy? Why does Taiwan still practice the death penalty? How does Taiwanese society treat migrants from Southeast Asia? In the lecture, the speaker will answer these and other questions to human rights in Taiwan.

Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS)

Bio:
KRISTINA KIRONSKA is a socially engaged interdisciplinary academic with experience in election observation, research, and advocacy. She lived in Taiwan for many years, including a period as a lecturer at the University of Taipei. Currently, she serves as the Advocacy Director at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), where she leads the Human Rights in East Asia (HUREA) project. She is also the founder of CEIAS’s EU-Taiwan Tracker, which monitors interactions between EU member states and Taiwan. Additionally, Kristina lectures at Palacký University Olomouc and is a Board Member of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS). Her research focuses on East and Southeast Asia, international relations, and human rights.

Transitional justice in affective political landscapes: How Taiwanese communities and universities deals with their statues of Chiang Kai-shek on December 4, 2024

Date: 4.12.2024

Presenter: Doc. Dr. Sascha Klotzbücher

Associate Professor for Chinese studies

Contact: Sascha.klotzbucheruniba.sk 

Affiliation: Department of East Asian Studies, Comenius University in Bratislava


 
This paper explores how local communities in Taiwan have been dealing with symbols of state-led personality cults and authoritarianism between 2007 and 2018. The statues of Chiang Kai-shek (CKS), the former leader of the authoritarian Chinese National Party regime, are the most controversial and affected objects of the authoritarian legacy in contemporary Taiwan. My discussion uses a case study approach and ethnographic observation, as well as interviews, own photographs, newspaper and social media reports, to analyse how a state university, National Chengchi University (國立政治大學) (NCCU) in Taipei City, discussed and eventually removed only one of its two publicly accessible statues of CKS in August 2018. This paper documents and analyses the historical origins of these statues, the protests, and their post-authoritarian 'afterlives' as a local response in a national discourse of transitional justice. The paper traces how local communities are redefining the meaning of two statues from sacred 'symbols commemorating authoritarian rule' to signifiers of local communities in a new form of decision-making.

Taiwan scholarships talk on October 10, 2024

Join us for an insightful talk by National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)’s associate Professor Hsu-Chan Kuo, as he introduces the university and the Taiwan-Europe Connectivity Scholarship. Assoc. Prof. Kuo will provide an overview of NCKU’s outstanding academic programs, research opportunities, and vibrant campus life, as well as the university's strong ties with international institutions. He will also discuss the Taiwan-Europe Connectivity Scholarship, which offers European students the chance to study at NCKU in various fields, including exchange programs, summer schools, internships, and Mandarin studies. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about studying in Taiwan and the benefits of this unique scholarship!

The talk will be on October 10, 2024 at 16:00 in room B1.