Vladimir Stolojan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Vladimir Stolojan

From 1945 to the beginning of the democratization, the Chinese nationalist party ruled Taiwan thr... more From 1945 to the beginning of the democratization, the Chinese nationalist party ruled Taiwan through a single-party regime. After being forced out of China in 1949, it implemented several policies promoting a national imagination in which Taiwan was turned into an ideal representation of China. One of the main symbolic pillars of the regime was the personality cult dedicated to its leader, Chiang Kai-shek. If the democratization put an end to the political ritual of the authoritarian era, the physical remnants of the cult have been subject to different reappropriations by public and private actors who publicly express a positive remembering of the deceased leader. This article explores the modalities of these reappropriations and their significance for the mnemonic divide characteristic from the symbolic Taiwanese landscape.

Monde Chinois (58), 2019

The Japanese colonization of Taiwan marks the beginning of the island's industrialization and the... more The Japanese colonization of Taiwan marks the beginning of the island's industrialization and the affirmation of a new society whose modernity contrasts with the traditional everyday life during the Qing era. Likewise, whereas the collapse of the imperial model and the early years of the Republican regime are characterized by a political instability, Taïwan is left unscathed by the troubles affecting China. If the Japanese colonial government contribute to the development of Taiwan, its policies are engineered only with the interests of the metropole in mind and Taiwanese are considered as second-class citizens, this despite the official discourse advocating their full assimilation into the Japanese empire. The implementation of a modern public education system is a good example of this contradiction between the official goal of the regime (to turn Taiwan into a province of the Japanese empire) and the everyday reality (a strict distinction between Japanese and Taiwanese, as well as the discrimination of the latter for the interests of the former). Despite the transfer of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China in 1945, the Taiwanese are still not considered by their new ruler as the equals of the other members of the national community. For Nankin, the Japanese colonization deeply influenced the local society and it is now necessary to "re-sinicize" the Taiwanese before granting them full citizenship. Several assimilationist policies are undertaken on the island, which, once again, lead to the marginalization of the Taiwanese for the benefit of the Chinese who came with the new regime and Taiwanese who lived in China before coming back in 1945. In term of education, rather than measures which would formally recognize a clear distinction between Taiwanese and Chinese, the government tries to enhance political socialization by strengthening its control of schools and campus. This process is intensified after the 1949 retreat. Anticommunism became a pillar of public education whereas, in the meanwhile, several groups dedicated to the youth are created by the Kuomintang as a mean to complete the political work made at school. This extreme politization of education is an essential characteristic of the Taiwanese society during the early 1950's.

Critique Internationale (n.76)

The last two years of Ma Ying-jeou’s (Ma Yingjiu) presidency saw the eruption of a controversy s... more The last two years of Ma Ying-jeou’s (Ma Yingjiu) presidency saw the eruption of a controversy surrounding proposed revisions to the high school history curriculum. Although not the first time that the subject of history has exacerbated the tensions between holders of a China-centred view of Taiwan’s history and those favouring a more Taiwan-centred approach, this crisis, which took place mainly between 2014 and 2015, was undoubtedly the fiercest witnessed by the Taiwanese society in the sphere of educational issues. By putting the 2014–2015 dispute into perspective through a review of the different attempts made by the pro-Taiwan independence Chen Shui-bian (Chen Shuibian) and the pro-unification Ma Ying-jeou governments to edit the history curriculum, this article will underline the specificities of this particular controversy. This contribution will, therefore, help to shed new light not only on the perception of Taiwan’s history promoted by the Ma administration, but also the policy-making process which characterised the last years of Ma’s presidency.

From 1945 to the beginning of the democratization, the Chinese nationalist party ruled Taiwan thr... more From 1945 to the beginning of the democratization, the Chinese nationalist party ruled Taiwan through a single-party regime. After being forced out of China in 1949, it implemented several policies promoting a national imagination in which Taiwan was turned into an ideal representation of China. One of the main symbolic pillars of the regime was the personality cult dedicated to its leader, Chiang Kai-shek. If the democratization put an end to the political ritual of the authoritarian era, the physical remnants of the cult have been subject to different reappropriations by public and private actors who publicly express a positive remembering of the deceased leader. This article explores the modalities of these reappropriations and their significance for the mnemonic divide characteristic from the symbolic Taiwanese landscape.

Monde Chinois (58), 2019

The Japanese colonization of Taiwan marks the beginning of the island's industrialization and the... more The Japanese colonization of Taiwan marks the beginning of the island's industrialization and the affirmation of a new society whose modernity contrasts with the traditional everyday life during the Qing era. Likewise, whereas the collapse of the imperial model and the early years of the Republican regime are characterized by a political instability, Taïwan is left unscathed by the troubles affecting China. If the Japanese colonial government contribute to the development of Taiwan, its policies are engineered only with the interests of the metropole in mind and Taiwanese are considered as second-class citizens, this despite the official discourse advocating their full assimilation into the Japanese empire. The implementation of a modern public education system is a good example of this contradiction between the official goal of the regime (to turn Taiwan into a province of the Japanese empire) and the everyday reality (a strict distinction between Japanese and Taiwanese, as well as the discrimination of the latter for the interests of the former). Despite the transfer of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China in 1945, the Taiwanese are still not considered by their new ruler as the equals of the other members of the national community. For Nankin, the Japanese colonization deeply influenced the local society and it is now necessary to "re-sinicize" the Taiwanese before granting them full citizenship. Several assimilationist policies are undertaken on the island, which, once again, lead to the marginalization of the Taiwanese for the benefit of the Chinese who came with the new regime and Taiwanese who lived in China before coming back in 1945. In term of education, rather than measures which would formally recognize a clear distinction between Taiwanese and Chinese, the government tries to enhance political socialization by strengthening its control of schools and campus. This process is intensified after the 1949 retreat. Anticommunism became a pillar of public education whereas, in the meanwhile, several groups dedicated to the youth are created by the Kuomintang as a mean to complete the political work made at school. This extreme politization of education is an essential characteristic of the Taiwanese society during the early 1950's.

Critique Internationale (n.76)

The last two years of Ma Ying-jeou’s (Ma Yingjiu) presidency saw the eruption of a controversy s... more The last two years of Ma Ying-jeou’s (Ma Yingjiu) presidency saw the eruption of a controversy surrounding proposed revisions to the high school history curriculum. Although not the first time that the subject of history has exacerbated the tensions between holders of a China-centred view of Taiwan’s history and those favouring a more Taiwan-centred approach, this crisis, which took place mainly between 2014 and 2015, was undoubtedly the fiercest witnessed by the Taiwanese society in the sphere of educational issues. By putting the 2014–2015 dispute into perspective through a review of the different attempts made by the pro-Taiwan independence Chen Shui-bian (Chen Shuibian) and the pro-unification Ma Ying-jeou governments to edit the history curriculum, this article will underline the specificities of this particular controversy. This contribution will, therefore, help to shed new light not only on the perception of Taiwan’s history promoted by the Ma administration, but also the policy-making process which characterised the last years of Ma’s presidency.