Racism in Taiwan

I just finished a series of lectures on racism, racial identity, and White Privilege to an inquisitive group of graduate students at National Taiwan Normal University (my host institution). The students were from various fields in psychology and education and had come to study in Taipei from different parts of the world (Malaysia, China, the United States, etc). I was asked to speak about models of racism and racial identity in the U.S. and to facilitate conversations about what racism and discrimination looks like in Taiwan. I was impressed with the depth of their thinking about the topic. It is clear that the racial identity models developed in the U.S. have important conceptual and practical contributions, but there needs to be more research and theory on racism in Taiwan.

As in so many parts of the world, there is clearly a long history of oppression and discrimination with so many different groups from the aboriginal communities (many of whom are still fighting to be officially recognized by the government) to the recent waves of Indonesian and Filipino/a immigrants who pay enormous fees and accrue large debt in order to have the opportunity to live here. I found this article on Forumosa.com on a community protest against foreign workers. This is a quote from the website "Taoyuan County Councilor Lu Lin Hsiao-feng (呂林小鳳), who represents the constituency, denied that residents wanted foreign workers to leave because of racial discrimination. “It has nothing to do with discrimination,” she said. “With 460 households and more than 1,000 residents, Rueilian is a peaceful community. They are merely worried that clashes could happen because of these foreign workers, with their different skin color and different culture, going in and out of the community.”

One of the advantages of doing a Fulbright is the numerous opportunities you have to meet people in another country who have shared interests and new perspectives. There are numerous researchers and activists already working hard in the fight for more equity in Taiwan. However, from my perspective so far, it appears that the public discourse on the topic is limited. This could be due to cultural practices associated with discussing topics that are taboo. I have been continuing these conversations with many students, faculty, and administrators and this has really helped me understand how to better approach my work with the Atayal community.