Heritage at transnational work: a belated acceptance of “Love and Peace” upon the 1871 shipwreck and 1874 wars across islands between Taiwan and Okinawa
Journal
International Journal of Heritage Studies
ISSN
13527258
Date Issued
2025
Author(s)
Abstract
Will contested and difficult heritage exacerbate conflicts, or can it serve as a critical opportunity for communities to reconcile with the past? This question has been a focus of exploration for practitioners and scholars over the past two decades. Based on our in-depth observations of the Mudan-Miyakojima case across Taiwan and Okinawa, we advocate for a more proactive engagement with difficult heritage due to its enabling role in making sense of the past. Notably, 2024 marks the 150th anniversary of the 1874 Mudan Incident, the first war launched by Meiji Japan in foreign territories, targeting Indigenous communities in southern Taiwan under the pretext of protecting the Ryukyu Kingdom (modern-day Okinawa). Through our examination of the symbolic journeys of a pair of statues titled ‘Love and Peace’, along with numerous heritage sites associated with this war, we shed light on the enabling role of heritage materials and spaces–heritage that works transnationally. It demonstrates how heritage facilitates cross-border communities in sharing a difficult past. However, as our findings show, it often takes longer than anticipated to create material and spatial accommodations for uneasy memories and heritage. Moreover, it requires significant willingness to sustain momentum against the unsettling geopolitics in the region.
Subjects
Indigenous
Okinawa
reconciliation
Taiwan
Transnational heritage
Publisher
Routledge
Type
journal article