Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese Identities [Paperback]

This volume centres on the creation of varied forms of individual and group identity in Taiwan, and the relationship between these forms of identity, both individual and collective, and patterns of Taiwanese religion, politics, and culture. The contributors explore the Taiwanese people's sense of who they are, attempting to discern how they identify themselves as individuals and as collectives and then try to determine the identity/roles individuals and groups construct for themselves. Ranging from the local essays to the national level and within the larger Chinese cultural/religious universe, these essays explore the complex nature of identity/role and the processes of identity formation which have shaped Taiwan's multileveled past and its many faceted present.Introduction: The Many Meanings of Identity; P.A.Katz & M.A.Rubenstein On the Origins and Transformation of Taiwanese National Identity; C.Maukuei Shifting National Identities in Public Spheres: A Cultural Account of Political Transformation in Taiwan; D.Tsai Popular Media and the Promotion of Identity on Taiwan; M.Y.T.Rawnsley Puppet Theatre and Taiwanese Cultural Identity; W.Su-mei The Quest for Difference Versus the Wish to Assimilate; M.Rudolph Identity Politics and the Study of Popular Religion in Postwar Taiwan; P.A.Katz Mazu in China-Wide Perspective; J.Bosco Popular Religion in a Southern Taiwanese Community; F.Aello Martial Cults in Southwestern Taiwan; A.Boretz Questions of Religion and Identity; P.S.SangrenPAUL R. KATZ teaches at the Institute of History, National Central University, Taiwan. He is the author of Demon Hordes and Burning Boats: The Cult of Marshall Wen in Late Imperial Checkiang, The Cult of Royal Lords in Taiwan, and Images of the Immortal: The Cult of L? Dongbin at the Palace of Eternal Joy.

MURRAY RUBENSTEIN is a specialist in Modern East Asia. His monographs are The Protestant Community on Modern Taiwan&ll³à