2018 Spotlight Taiwan in Estonia: A Study on Taiwan Indigenous Cultures

The events include Taiwan Indigenous Culture Festival on Friday, 12 October and a Roundtable for Taiwan Scholars in the Baltic Region on Saturday, 13 October. 

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• Taiwan Indigenous Culture Festival at Tallinn University on Friday, 12 October

A small film festival and a photography exhibition about indigenous people in Taiwan.
An opening event with welcoming speeches and snacks,Taiwanese popular music by indigenous artists played in the background (including Panai, a-Mei, Samingad).

17:00-18:00 opening event (Mare building, 3rd floor)

Keynote speech: Grace I-An Gao, University of Helsinki "Taking care as an initial inquiry as self-determination: a case from Indigenous peoples in Taiwan"

18:00-19:30 film screening, SuperNova cinema (Narva mnt 27, Nova building, N-406)

A Year in the Clouds: Smangus (2011)
A documentary about the indigenous Atayal people in the village Smangus - honored with the Peabody Award  in 2012.

High in the mountains of Taiwan is the remote village of smangus. Inhibited by a unique group of indigenous people called the Atayal, Smangus is the only place in Taiwan that now practices common ownership of land and property. This is a place where nature and man have found balance. Now, witness every part of the lives of these people, through pain and joy, and experience the unique bonds formed with the ancient trees around them, in a film that documents a Year in the Clouds - a year amongst the sacred forests of this tribe.

A film in the series "Window on Taiwan" supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs R.O.C
(Taiwan).

Duration: 90 minutes

• Roundtable for Taiwan Scholars in the Baltic Region on Saturday, 13 October

10:00-13:00 Open session  (Mare building M-134)

Presentations:

Frank Kraushaar, Professor, University of Latvia
● Reading without end: the humanities and their importance in creating open spaces in and between Baltic societies and the sinophone world.

Märt Läänemets, Associate Professor of Oriental Studies, Institute of Cultural Research, University of Tartu
● 1895 in Taiwan: Birth and Collapse of the Republic of Formosa (臺灣民主國) or ’Creation of Pure Land on the Earth’: Buddhism in Modern Taiwan.

Grace I-An Gao, PhD student, University of Helsinki
● Taking care as an initial inquiry as self-determination: a case from Indigenous peoples in Taiwan

Taru Salmenkari, researcher, University of Helsinki
● Journey from history to memory with Taiwanese social movements

The purpose of this roundtable is to create a platform to bring together various initiatives and to create awareness that these independent initiatives can make mutual contributions when they are seen through the lens of Taiwan Studies. Across different universities, countries, and academic fields, the Taiwan Studies framework can provide novel opportunities for cooperation, for generating new resources, and for pursuing new openings together. Thus, this occasion also provides opportunities to discuss future activities to consolidate Taiwan Studies as a specific field of research in the region.

The event is organized by the School of Humanities and the Taipei Mission in the Republic of Latvia.

More information about the roundtable here