Full Circle

I feel that being a Fulbright Senior Scholar is a wonderful gift for me and my family. Being in Taiwan has deep personal and professional relevance for me. My father is from Chiayi and my mother is from Tainan. They lived in Taiwan during Japanese colonial rule and thus grew up speaking Japanese and assimilating to Japanese culture. As a Professor in Counseling Psychology at the University of San Francisco and previously at Teachers College, Columbia University, I have pursued scholarly and community activities related to my interest in understanding how Asian cultural values and identities inform mental health and ways of coping with stress. Many of these studies have focused on or included Asian Pacific Islander participants. Now, I seek to explore these critical issues while immersed in an Asian culture (Taiwan) and not from the outside looking in. 

Recent global shifts in Taiwan represent possibilities and challenges facing Taiwanese students living in Taiwan as well as Taiwanese immigrants living in the United States (U.S.). Taipei in particular embodies many technological and social advances that often contradict traditional cultural values, hierarchical family roles, and fragile political histories. I am simultaneously fascinated and concerned with the multiple changes that Taiwan schools have endured and their impact on the psychological and educational experiences of aboriginal communities in Taiwan as they navigate experiences with discrimination, academic expectations, shifting cultural identities and pressure to assimilate to cultural norms (as examples). These conditions are further complicated by the increases in U.S. and Taiwan interactions in educational systems as growing numbers of Taiwanese high school students pursue post-secondary degrees in the U.S. (Institute of International Education, 2010). Students in Taiwan may struggle with many of the same stressors shared by their immigrant counterparts in the U.S. (see Huang, & Chou, 2010), but cultural stigmas and indigenous practices may intensify their mental health concerns and offer limited outlets for successfully managing their stress (Asia One News, 2009). I believe that living in Taiwan will give me a deeper appreciation and understanding of aboriginal and Taiwanese adolescents, their counselors, and their families, as well as access to Taiwanese researchers, students, teachers, and community members. This year will also give me the opportunity to explore living in Taiwan through my parents' eyes as I try to better understand the impact of Japanese assimilationist practices and silenced cultural identities. 
How to apply for a Fulbright: learn more here.