This course is co-taught by three professors: Prof. Fan-Ting Cheng 鄭芳婷 (Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature), Prof. Chiaomei Liu 劉巧楣 (Department of History),
Prof. Su-mei Lo 羅素玫 (Department of Anthropology).

I. Exploring Drama and Theater in Taiwan: Prof. Fan-Ting Cheng , Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature
In the history of Taiwan drama and theater, a variety of genres appear, including realistic drama, musical, cross-cultural xiqu, and all sorts of avant-garde performance. The first part of this course aims to prepare students for subsequent study in the field of Taiwan performance and related critical theories. The materials include selected drama, theater and theories that work on the social issues with Taiwanese contexts. By examining selected Taiwan performance and critical discourses with Taiwanese contexts, the course helps students to rethink the cultural, artistic, and social issues embedded in the selected materials. Students are expected to improve their critical skills and aesthetical connoisseurship while learning the beauty of the island.

II. Exploring Art Collections in Taiwan: Prof. Chiaomei Liu, Professor, Department of History
Art collecting in Taiwan exemplifies this country’s pluralist perspective in world art and culture, its fashioning of looking at self and other, and in particular its building up forums of displaying art investigations. In this part, we will visit three major art museums showcasing the academic division of art studies in this country: Chinese art in the National Palace Museum, Taiwanese art in the Taipei Fine Art Museum, and Western art in the Chimei Museum of Tainan. Students are encouraged to select beforehand, through online resources, a list of specific art works for discussion on site. Part II aims to train students to establish a productive framework of knowledge in visual arts, as well as to carry on eventually independent visits of art museums in the world.

III. Exploring social history of ethnic groups in Taiwan: Prof. Su-mei Lo, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
In Taiwan, ethnic groups and their cultural phenomenon are highly diversified with different layers of historical development and social-political origins. In the third part of our course, we are going to explore this complexity with the introduction of the social history and cultural representation of ethnic groups in Eastern and Northern Taiwan. We are going to learn ways of seeing through some Anthropological readings and participating in a short field visit in an important northern migrant area, for getting closer to the community’s rhythm of everyday life. The subjects of discussion and group work will be writing short narratives of our visit, with a deeper concern of how Taiwan has become a civic society with such a diversified origin of migrants at different time.