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The Waste Land under Colonialism: Process of Emergence of Coloniality in Taiwanese Novels during the Japanese Colonial Period

  • The Journal of Study on Language and Culture of Korea and China
  • Abbr : JSLCKC
  • 2008, (17), pp.417-440
  • DOI : 10.16874/jslckc.2008..17.020
  • Publisher : Korean Society of Study on Chinese Languge and Culture
  • Research Area : Humanities > Chinese Language and Literature
  • Published : August 31, 2008

崔末順 1

1國立政治大學台灣文學研究所

Candidate

ABSTRACT

From the perspective of world history, Taiwan becoming a Japanese colony in 1895 can be regarded as a result of the global expansion of modern western civilization. Japan, the first country in Asia to be westernized, overthrew its feudal system during the rule of Emperor Meiji. This laid a foundation for the prevailing capitalism then, allowing Japan to join the ranks of western empires in colonizing other countries. Taiwan, being a victim within the historical context, became the first overseas colony of Japan. The assimilation policy promoted by the Japanese government in Taiwan aimed to convert Taiwanese people into part of the Japanese race by spreading modern western civilization into Taiwan, modernizing Taiwanese people, and at the same time educating them with the national spirit of Japan based on the principles of treating Taiwan as an extension of Japan homeland and everyone treated alike. The dual discourse of colonization which shaped the concept of civilized Japan and barbaric Taiwan gradually emerged after a long period of promotion of the assimilation policy, which centered on modernization and Japanization. This study targets Taiwanese novels during the Japanese colonial period to explore and analyze how such discourse and cultural supremacism imposed on Taiwanese people by the Japanese government were reflected on the fictional characters in these novels and how they affected identity and ethnic identity on the basis of the above interpretation of the historical background.

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