As a democratized, globalized and multi-ethnic society, contemporary Taiwan is rich in cultural diversity. Not only is Taiwan often influenced by international trends, but her domestic environment provides a fertile ground for social innovations; as a result, Taiwan’s cultural landscape is undergoing a process of permanent revolution. Multiculturalism is not a proclaimed future goal ahead of us, but is taking place in our daily life.
This course follows Raymond Williams in viewing culture “not only as a body of intellectual and imaginative work; it is also and essentially a whole way of life.” In other words, culture should not be taken narrowly as a prized property monopolized by an elite group of people, but various ways of acting and thinking embraced by different groups; in short, it is exactly what most sociologists would describe as “practice.” A survey on contemporary Taiwan’s cultures necessarily sensitizes us to the complicated nature of social groupings. Differences in ethnicity, class, gender, region, age, sexual orientation, religious belief, and life-style give rise to highly diversified cultural expressions, among which contention and cooperation co-exist.