Zoom ID: https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/63984687265

Taiwanese Millennial Writers and Their Writings after the Sunflower Movement

Due to dissatisfaction with the Taiwanese government’s trade policy, the younger generation initiated the Sunflower Movement and occupied the Legislative Yuan for a month in 2014. Known as the largest “civil disobedience” movement in Taiwan since the 1980s, the Sunflower movement influences Taiwanese society at large, including promoting the revival of civil society, forming the “third force” political parties, and even inspiring protests in Hong Kong and Japan. However, the impact of the Sunflower movement on Taiwanese millennial writers also deserves attention. The term “Taiwanese millennial writer” refers to the generation of Taiwanese writers who were born between 1980 and 2000. This generation grew up in an era of rising awareness of Taiwan’s localization, a frequent flow of transnational cultures, and rapid development of digital media. This background has created a unique creative concern and aesthetic expression of literature that differ from the previous generation. This talk seeks to identify the significant features of Taiwanese millennial writers and examine the impact of Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement on this new generation of writers.

Min-xu Zhan is Distinguished Assistant Professor of Taiwan Literature and Transnational Cultural Studies at National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. Dr. Min-xu Zhan received his PhD degree from National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. His academic interests include Taiwan literature, Sinophone Malaysian literature, and Sinophone studies. He is the quest-editor (with Chia-rong Wu) of a special issue of Sun Yat-sen Journal of Humanities entitled “Sinophone Literature in the Global South” (2021) and have published articles in Chung Wai Quarterly, Bulletin of Taiwanese Literature, Dong Hwa Journal of Chinese Studies, as well as in several edited volumes. He is currently working on his first monograph, tentatively entitled The Reception of Southeast Asian Migrant Literature in Taiwan.

Spotlight Taiwan 2022