Leiden University Student Repository

Valks, Thom (2014)

Taiwan’s Night Markets: Battlefield of Identity: A Case Study Approach

Master thesis | Asian Studies (60 EC) (MA)

This thesis, by means of a case study shows how conflicts such as the Shida Night Market case in Taiwan show how various actors use framing to influence media and politics. This thesis has not only investigated what framing attempts were made, and how they were formulated, but also what gave certain framing attempts strong resonance while others remained weak. In the case of Taiwan this thesis shows that the definition of culture is an important aspect when gaining popular support, and culture is both defined as a remnant of Japanese colonial rule, or as Taiwan's attempts to be(come) something else than Mainland China but still have a cultural background that is Chinese. This in turn shows how Taiwanese nationalism is defined and shaped, and how it is utilized in certain situations.

Taiwan

social movement

case study

night market

identity

nationalism

culture

framing

Author

Valks, Thom

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

China track

Supervisors

Salmenkari, Taru

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en