The Image of Foreign Spouses in Taiwan – A Reflection on the Mainstream Ideologies and Nationalism
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Tan, Ju-Fen
Abstract
In the twenty-first century, countries throughout the world are advocating cultural diversity policies. Respect and inclusion to promote cultural diversity has become a new doctrine. However, in reality, the issue of immigration has become an outlet of anger for extreme right-wing conservative forces. Immigrants have also become the target of racial discrimination by “neo-colonialism.” In July 2011, dozens of young students from Norway in Northern Europe were brutally massacred by a local extremist while attending a summer camp organized by the leftist governing party. During the ordeal, Taiwan was unexpected “praised” by the killer for being a nation state of monoculturalism that rejected cultural diversity. Legislator Chang Show-Foong cannot understand why Taiwanese men would travel abroad to marry “females” from foreign countries, leaving an over disproportional amount of “unwed females” in Taiwan and causing the Department of Interior to have to exert an excessive amount of resources on welfare programs for foreign spouses.
In this study, we attempt to understand how mainstream ideologies in Taiwan define, construct, and shape the public’s impression of Southeast Asian foreign spouses through three dimensions: media coverage, policy statements, and academic research. The hidden “othering” of foreign spouses is eroding our respect and inclusion of diverse cultures. Taiwan is a small country that is marginalized by the international community; it was once even relegated to the border of the world'' economic system. To escape from the yoke of colonialism and imperialism, after freedom from the domination of ethnocentrism in western civilizations, subjectivity must be attained.
The phenomenon of foreign spouses in Taiwan is a mirror that reflects Taiwan’s social class and race-awareness. Only by reflecting on post-colonialism, can marginalization be examined, and those who were excluded by Taiwanese society have the chance to be reconsidered and included.
Subjects
foreign spouses
media representation
identity
nationalism
pluralism
post-colonialism
SDGs
Type
thesis
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