Is Taiwan Chinese? History, Identity, and Nationalism

Why is Taiwan, with a stable, democratic government and a strong economy, considered a threat to world peace? The People's Republic of China disputes Taiwan's de facto sovereignty for reasons that derive from Han ethnic identity, Chinese national identity, and the relation of both to Taiwanese identity. Taiwan's history from approximately 1600 to the present shows its cosmopolitan resilience to earlier waves of imperialism, colonialism, and nationalism. What can Taiwan and the world do in the face of China's nationalistic threats of invasion? Lectures, discussions, readings, and videos examine the interactions of identity and nationalism with gender and kinship, community, culture, economics, politics, and war. By the end of the course, students should be able to critically analyze historical and contemporary events to understand their sociocultural context, historical contingencies, and political implications.