Chair of Taiwan studies launched at Ottawa University

An enthusiastic crowd packed the Tabaret Hall at the University of Ottawa on Wednesday evening for the official launch of the chair of Taiwan Studies at the Canadian capital’s top university.

The chair was made possible following an agreement between the university and Taiwan’s Ministry of Education.

The designated titular of the chair is professor Scott Simon from the department of sociology and anthropology, with professor Andre Laliberte of the school of political studies acting as cochair.

The chair will be interdisciplinary and extend to fields including political studies, anthropology, sociology, economics and development.

During the ceremony, which was co-organized by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Simon said the university had already signed agreements with five Taiwanese universities.

“In the Faculty of Social Science, we already have two scholars who have been doing Taiwan Studies for well over a decade, with many publications. This is in addition to cutting-edge work in such fields as medicine and the hard sciences done in collaboration between University of Ottawa professors and Taiwanese scholars,” he said.

Laliberte said Taiwan’s unique situation could serve as inspiration for a wide number of issues.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to teach our students about this democratic republic, from which we can learn a lot in the fields of science and public policy. Taiwan has a rich political culture and a tumultuous history that is sure to inspire debate in every sector of political science,” Laliberte said. “In the field of comparative politics, Taiwan has, since 1945, served as an experiment, with implications for all the great political questions of our time ... institutional reform, the separation of power and electoral development, all of which are part of the ‘Taiwanese experiment.’”

International Conference :Democracy and Minority Rights in Taiwan

Date: April 28-29, 2011

Location: National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung

Project summary

The Canadian Association of Taiwan Studies (CATS) was founded in 2003 to facilitate the dissemination of research findings by Canadian scholars doing research in Taiwan. CATS had its first conference in Ottawa in November 2003. It has subsequently sponsored panels with the support of the Culture Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Ottawa (TECO) at the annual meeting of the Canadian Asian Studies Association (CASA). CATS, in association with colleagues at the National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) Faculty of Social Science, is planning to hold an interdisciplinary conference April 28,29, 2011 to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Hsinhai Revolution. In memory of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People, the conference will be organized around three themes related to minzu (“nationalism”), minquan (“democracy”), and minsheng (“people’s livelihood”) in contemporary Taiwan. The first is migration. Since Dr. Sun envisioned a civic nationalism transcending ethnic divisions, it is important to reflect upon the issues and challenges for the Newcomers in Taiwan. The second is Globalization, Diversity, and Political Democracy in Taiwan, examining the unfolding of democracy on Taiwan. The third

is indigenous peoples, looking at how the livelihood of Taiwan’s poorest communities has been transformed after the arrival of the ROC on Taiwan. This conference will consist of a keynote speech, and one panel with four to six papers organized each of these themes. Panelists will be equally represented by Canadian and Taiwanese scholars to facilitate international dialogue on the relevant issues. It is hoped that a special issue of a journal or a collective book publication will emerge from this conference.

Detailed description

In memory of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People, the conference will be organized around three themes related to minzu (“nationalism”), minquan (“democracy”), and minsheng (“people’s livelihood”) in contemporary Taiwan. The first is migration. Since Dr. Sun envisioned a civic nationalism transcending ethnic divisions, it is important to reflect upon the issues and challenges for the Newcomers in Taiwan. The second is Globalization,Diversity, and Political Democracy in Taiwan, examining the unfolding of democracy on Taiwan. The third is indigenous peoples, looking at how the livelihood of Taiwan’s poorest communities has been transformed after the arrival of the ROC on Taiwan.

List of Participants

Dr. Andre Laliberte, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa

Dr. Daniele Belanger, Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario

Dr. Khuat Thu Hong, Dr. Hong-Zen Wang, Department of Sociology, National Sun Yat-sen University

Dr. Hsiao d’Ailly, Social Development Studies, Renison University College at University of Waterloo

Dr. Jacob Kovalio, Department of History, Carleton University

Dr. Scott Simon, University of Ottawa

Dr. Terence Russell, University of Manitoba

Dr. William Hipwell, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University

Dr. Chang-Ling Huang, Political Science Department, National Taiwan University

Dr. Chen-Yin Chiang and Dr. Han-Pi Chang, Graduate Institute of Hakka Social and Cultural Studies National Central University

Dr. Chih-Wei Tsai [Awi Mona], Department of Indigenous Development and Social Works,National Dong Hwa University

Dr. Fu-chang Wang, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica

Dr. Hung-Jeng Tsai, Department of Sociology, National Sun Yat-sen University

Dr. Min-hsiou Rachel Hung, Foreign Languages and Literature, National Sun Yat-sen University

Dr. Sue-Fen You, Department of Healthcare Administration, I-Shou University

Dr. Yih-Ren Lin, Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan

On May 16-19, 2010, Carleton University in collaboration with the National Central University in Taiwan will host the 9th Canada-Taiwan Conference on Science and Technology in Higher Education.

The conference focuses on the joint implementation and commercialization of research findings from Canada and Taiwan to advance the practical use of cutting-edge knowledge in the following areas:

Environment and Sustainable energy: Sharing insights on renewable energy sources and current development of fuel cells as alternative energy sources for the automotive industry

Biomedical: Knowledge exchange on nano-technologies and their application in advanced medical systems, medical imaging, biomechanics, biomaterials, medical informatics

Many key world-leading research centers, companies and university researchers will be participating from both Taiwan and Canada. (View)