The Theatrical Knowledge and Artistic Production during the Cold War Globalisation in Taiwan

Principle Investigator：Ko Lun Chen, Postdoctoral Researcher, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University（2020-2022）

Regarding the co-figuration of the Martial Law and Cold War order in Taiwan, the function of globalization, in and after this historical stage, has served in favour of a particular side of hegemonic interests or ideologies that implicitly channelled the concept of Freedom and arguably conducted another wave of modernization of the literary thoughts to some certain modes of discourses after WWII in Taiwan. Following this historical context, I would like to develop further the core problematics concerning the intellectual genealogy of modern theatre in Taiwan as well as to historically re-connect and re-map the emancipatory front of the Inter-Asian theatre movement representing and practising the de-colonisation, intellectually and practically, from the 1920s and those of the 60s, the 80s and the present.
 
The project has two parts. On the one hand, I will analyse the knowledge, artistic production and social practice of Taiwan's theatre from the mid to the late 90s. How artists, participants, and intellectuals would have appropriated the western theatrical knowledge as the ways of practice and the discourses to narrate the history of theatre in post-war Taiwan, yet how they would be able to intervene in the local society or even to form the cultural subjectivity through the theatrical production. Since the social and artistic intervention has been the critical concern in theatres of engagement, I would like, on the other hand, to trace back the theatre movement striking around the East Asia in the 1920s with the emancipatory thoughts, including Taiwan, China, and Japan, in order to excavate how these theatrical practices could be the intellectual source for us and the present.