The Taiwan Studies Programme (TSP) is delighted a to announce a lunchtime seminar by Dr Ann Heylen, Associate Professor at the Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU).

In the global context, the Taiwan experience warrants explanation and makes a welcome case study as a late nation. These geopolitical dynamics can be illustrated at the hand of a historiographical account in the 17th century, when the island Taiwan was at the crossroads of the encounter between East and West. This encounter produced documentation and scholarship in both regions and in a number of languages that are now more easily accessible with the digital humanities wave generating new research findings on the meta-level. This presentation introduces the audience to a project that digitally maps Dutch Formosa and addresses the functionality of it within the context of Taiwan history in the Asia Pacific rim. Inspiration for the idea has come from different directions, but is driven by the world of virtual and interactive technology, ideal in representing mobility in ‘movement’.

Speaker biography

Ann Heylen, PhD, is Associate Professor at the Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), and Director of the International Taiwan Studies Center (ITSC), at the College of Liberal Arts, NTNU. She is a founding member of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS) and editor-in-chief of the East Asian Journal of Popular Culture (EAJPC, Intellect, UK). Her research covers the history of Taiwan, from 17-20th century, with special attention to Dutch Formosa, the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945) and more recently the turn of the 19th century relations between the Low Countries and East Asia.

If you are interested in attending, please reserve your place by emailing Mandy Felton.