Topic：Museum and Migration: The Politics of Recognition and Inclusion in Taiwan under the New Southbound Policy
Speaker：Morakot MEYER (Associate Professor, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Thailand)
(Visiting Scholar of the GARC, National Taiwan University)
Moderator：Chang-Ling HUANG (Director of the GARC and Professor of the Department of Political Science, National Taiwan University）
Time：Thursday,20 Nov 12:30-14:00
Venue：Room 108, College of Social Sciences, NTU
Abstract：
On 9 January 2016, museum docents from Southeast Asia led a guided tour for then President Ma Ying-Jeou of the KMT during his visit to the National Taiwan Museum. The event marked the early dawn for the engagement with Southeast Asian migrants and immigrants by Taiwan’s museum sector. Later that same year, the country launched its New Southbound Policy under the presidency of Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP, intensifying this engagement.
This talk examines the emergence of Taiwanese museums as key sites for negotiating migration, identity, and soft power under the New Southbound Policy. The talk explores how national and local exhibitions, activities, and cultural diplomacy have changed the politics of recognition and have reshaped public understanding of Southeast Asian (im)migrants and Taiwan's regional positioning.
To be sure, recognition alone does not guarantee social inclusion or equality. Drawing on Nancy Fraser's critique of recognition and the debates of other scholars on cultural citizenship and cultural democracy, the talk argues that museum practices reveal both the possibilities and the limits of multicultural representation. It also asks how the museum sector can move beyond the practices of precarious recognition and inclusion. Thus, the talk offers insights into the evolving role of the museum as a cultural institution in shaping civic belonging in contemporary Taiwan, characterized by the condition of “super-diversity”.
Registration ：https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc-cADvjvHLL_qDtUc7uYfDJIs1gDztkS7G9t7KS_sVQiGR_A/viewform?usp=dialog