Presented by the Wellington Chan Distinguished Speaker Series in Chinese Studies - “Cultural Trauma and the Making of Unequal Citizenship: Alternative Approach to Critical Inter-Asia Cultural Studies”
"Citizenship," even though a "Western" concept, is a convenient technique for the post-colonial states in Asia to stabilize their regimes through a reversed mode of divide and rule, a form of internal colonialism. Though the societies of Southeast Asia are multi-ethnic and multi-religious, the post-WWII "citizenship act" established in those countries turned out to be the foundation to prioritize the indigenous people or particular religion. Hence a model of differentiated citizenships was created. This talk looks at several documentaries on the 1965-66 massacre in Indonesia to discuss the ambiguous double-edged functions of documentaries. This mode of reenactment can easily enhance the narrative from the victim's point of view and at the same time legitimize the ruling regime and displace the larger truth.
About Joyce C. H. Liu
Dr. Liu is Professor of Critical Theory, Comparative Literature, Visual Studies and Cultural Studies in the Institute of Social Research and Cultural Studies, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. It is the program that she founded in 2002, the first graduate program of cultural studies in Taiwan, an inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary postgraduate program that addresses contemporary critical issues. She is currently the director of the cross-universities research center, International Center for Cultural Studies of the University System of Taiwan, a network system connecting four distinguished research-oriented universities in Taiwan, together with an international graduate program in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies supported by these four universities.
Her research covers the critique of East-Asian modernity, Chinese political thoughts in the 20th century, focusing on issues related to the questions of bio-politics, border politics, unequal citizenship, civic exclusion, and internal coloniality.
