[D Area] Exploring Taiwan: Women and Taiwanese Society (NTU)

Course Objective

This is an all-English course of the general education level, in which we engage social studies on women’s issues in Taiwan. On such premises, this course is meant to channel through various topics regarding women in Taiwan with a critical approach; this course is also meant to introduce those topics intellectually to international students who may have arrived in Taiwan, with limited information of the social history and general conditions of Taiwanese women. This course is aimed to help students establish an understanding of fundamental and crucial social issues regarding Taiwanese women within one semester. Through the lecture and film appreciation, this course is meant to inspire the students to apply the knowledge outside of the classroom, to pay more attention to everyday life, and to find more relevance as well as connection in daily experiences. 


Outline of Course

Since the emergence of the feminist movement in Taiwan by the 1970s, Taiwanese society has seen more than a few women’s issues proposed and discussed in an increasingly broad and extensive manner. Reflecting the changes in socio-politics and cultural conditions, the general perspectives in which the same issue is discussed also changes. In this course we explore Taiwanese women’s conditions of the twentieth century, with an emphasis on the more modern period, that is, the mid-to-late twentieth century. With a brief introduction of what Taiwanese women’s traditions may involve and how Taiwanese women modernize, we explore how the feminist movements unfolded, how they reflect or change Taiwanese women’s social status, the rise of women’s studies and/or feminist scholarship, sexual violence, sex work, and lesbian issues. We also reflect on issues of migration and global human flow, and discuss how the introduction of immigrant spouses as well as migrant workers may compel us to rethink women’s issues in contemporary Taiwan. 

Week 1. Introduction.
Week 2. Susan Mann. Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century. Stanford University Press, 1997. Chapters 2, 4.
Week 3. Doris T. Chang. Women’s Movements in Twentieth-Century Taiwan. University of Illinois Press, 2009. Chapter 1.
Week 4. Women’s Movements in Twentieth-Century Taiwan. Chapter 2.
Week 5. Film appreciation: Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (1994)
Week 6. STUDENT PRESENTATION WEEK.
Week 7. 《臺灣婦女解放運動史》. Chapters 6-7.
Week 8. 婦女救援基金會(1999)。《台灣慰安婦報告》,台北,台灣商務印書館。Chapter 1.
Week 9. STUDENT DEBATES
Week 10. 紀慧文(1998)。《12位上班小姐的生涯故事》,台北,唐山。Chapters 1-2.
Week 11. 張娟芬(2011)。《姊妹戲牆:女同志運動學》,台北,時報。Chapter 5.
Week 12. 張娟芬(2011)。《愛的自由式:女同志故事書》,台北,時報。Chapters 1-5.
Week 13. 夏曉鵑(2002)。《流離尋岸:資本國際化下的「外籍新娘」現象》,台北,台灣社會研究叢刊。Chapters 3-4.
Week 14. 邱琡雯(2005)。《性別與移動》,台北,巨流。Chapters 5-7.
Week 15. 藍佩嘉(2008)。《跨國灰姑娘》,台北,行人文化實驗室。Chapters 2-3.
Week 16. 台灣國際勞工協會(2008)。《凝視驛鄉Voyage 15840移工攝影集》,台北,印刻。
Week 17. Film appreciation: Pap Smear (2014).
Week 18. FINAL EXAM WEEK.


Course Code: 3TG047701

For further information please visit Course System.

#GE Type: D

#NTU General Education Course