Taiwanese Identity

Very interesting concepts about identity are brought up in "Changing Authentic Identities: Evidence from Taiwan and China," an article by Melissa Brown. Brown talks about people's identities, collective and individual, and what she believe best defines and affects them. She stresses the importance of social experience, when it comes to identity. Brown claims that identity is "primarily" defined by social experience, which in turn can be influenced by the government, "lived interactions," and "personal factors" (Brown, 459). Because identity is connected with social experience, Brown believes that it is "fluid" (Brown, 460). The social aspect of people's lives is always changing, or as Brown puts it, it is "dynamic" (Brown, 460). Because of this, identity itself is changing and dynamic as well. This reliance on the concept of social experience interacting with identity plays well into Brown's idea about collective identity. Brown writes about she feels collective identities come into existence. She claims that people most commonly associate a nation's/ collective's identity with "shared cultural traditions and ancestry" (Brown, 462). Although she does not view these aspects as "irrelevant," Brown does not equate them with the primary way in which collectives actually self - identify. She believes that each individual within a collective has their own "authentic" and individual experience. The social interactions between the individuals is actually what creates an identity for a nation or a collective. These social interactions offer many layers and methods for classification. When individuals connect and interact a "dynamic network," occurs (Brown, 463). Within this network, connections change and "shift," as they are either "maintained" or "cut - off" (Brown, 463). It is also important to note the hierarchies arise. As Brown puts it, "hierarchical character of interactions influences their aggregation and thereby shapes the network into a structure" (Brown, 463). She believes that within social interaction, hierarchies naturally form and this provides a basis for a nation or a collective to from its identity on. As much as individual experiences/ interactions form a collective identity, Brown believes the collective shapes the individual as well. She is basically describing a loop of influence. Brown also reiterates that collective identity is not "absolute" (Brown, 464). The social experience that defines identity, collective or individual, is in a constant state of flux and not as rigid as concepts of shared traditions. To further strengthen her notions about identity, Brown provides an example involving the plains Aborigines of Taiwan. 

In Taiwan, there used to be a great distinction between the plains Aborigines and Han/ Hoklo Taiwanese people. Although the two groups were very culturally similar, they opted to maintain there separate identities. Hoklo rarely conducted mixed marriages with plains Aborigines people and strictly referred to them as "savages." This separation existed, even though the groups were largely similar. What divided their identities was the cultural practice of foot binding. Foot binding involved binding tightly the feet of young females, in order to prevent them from growing. The Han Taiwanese subscribed to this cultural practice, while the Aborigines did not. When the Japanese banned foot binding, suddenly the groups had no cultural distinctions left to hold on to. The Han Taiwanese and plains Aborigines came to accept one identity. The plains Aborigines became Han and left behind their "savage" identity. This example illustrates Brown's point very well. She claims that identity is dynamic and constantly changing and that is exactly what happened in the example she provided. The Aborigines and and Hoklo seemed to be rigidly separated by a certain tradition but a shift occurred. Brown also mentioned when the separation disappeared, it became accepted for Aborigines and Hoklo to marry. This shows how social interaction occurs and changes within collectives. Brown proves her point about how dynamic identity is and how it is greatly influenced/ defined by social experience. This social experience can also be influenced by external factors such as the government. The Japanese government banned foot binding and changed the social situation of the Hoklo people and Taiwanese Aborigines. Overall, Melissa Brown illustrates her point well within her article. Her ideas about identity can be relevant to Taiwan, even in recent times.  If the nation can realize their identity is based on the social experience/ interaction of the individuals within it, they can gather confidence from the knowledge and stand more firmly in their independence from China. There is nothing more needed to prove a nation has it's own identity. Because Taiwan shares many cultural similarities with China , there is belief that they should not be separate. Brown points out identity is not defined so rigidly. With this knowledge, the Taiwanese people should embrace their identity, which is being defined by the social experience of its citizens, regardless of what is going on with neighboring nations. 

Work Cited

Brown, Melissa. 2010. "Changing Authentic Identities: Evidence from Taiwan and China." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 16 (3): 459 - 479.