IICS

International Center for Cultural Studies at National Chiao Tung University aims to become an influential institution for inter-Asia critical studies for Taiwan and international academics across the humanities and social sciences. Our center brings together researchers across departments and institutions, with experts in sociology, anthropology, economic history, political philosophy, the history of thought, material history, gender studies, discourse analysis, and artistic practice. Our interdisciplinary researchers work together on the joint project of “Conflict, Justice, and Decolonization: Critical Studies of Inter-Asian Societies.” We are a team of 36 researchers, and we are currently working on five subprojects and 36 topics:

Through these projects, we hope to pursue four goals: outreach, connection, cultivation, and practice. Our strategies for the year 2019 are as follows:
 

6. Strengthen the various functions of our website: http://iccs.nctu.edu.tw


 

Our strategies and achievements for the years 2018 - 2019 are as follows:

(1) Cultivate talents, fulfill educational goals, train future leaders in academic and professional roles:

1. Postdoctoral fellows: We have invited 8 outstanding local and international postdoctoral fellows to execute our research projects and to assist with administrative tasks associated with the projects.
2. Short-term visits for overseas students: Following our TEEP project, we continue to accept overseas graduate students to visit, especially those from our partnering institute, so as to attract more outstanding international students to study in Taiwan. In 2018 – 2019, we accepted 5 short-term visiting overseas students.
3. Short-term overseas visits for Taiwan-based students: We encourage our students to conduct fieldworks internationally and to exchange at our partnering institutes. In 2018 – 2019, we supported 9 students (2 in 2018, 7 in 2019) to conduct fieldworks internationally, and 5 students (2 in 2018, 3 in 2019) to exchange at our partnering institutes.
4. Strengthen the recruitment of international students, and internationalize our teaching environment: Supported by ICCS, the International Master’s Program of Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (IACS) and the Institute for Social Research and Cultural Studies (SRCS) at NCTU have 13 international PhD students and 29 international Master’s students, and 24 graduates (11 PhDs and 13 Masters). Both local and international students participate in class activities perform research, fostering an international learning environment.
5. Graduate Student Digital Research Archive Project: We encourage our local and international graduate students to cooperate to implement the digital research archive project, titled “Conflict, Justice, Decolonization: Critical Studies of Inter-Asian Society” (CJD). The achievements of CJD include: (i) We provide a platform for graduate students to participate in our research project and a space for co-learning through the digital research archive; (ii) Through the mentoring of PhD students, Master’s students learn how to collect data and write articles; (iii) We establish a sharing platform of research resources; (iv) We strengthen international academic network. In 2018 – 2019, there were 55 articles published on CJD. NCTU students participating in CJD include those from Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Palestine, South Africa, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan. We also accept submission of articles by students from other universities and from other countries. Website:http://iics.blog.nctu.edu.tw/
6. We encourage graduate students to plan research projects and organize international workshops, so as to cultivate future leaders and organizers: ICCS encourage graduate students to plan research projects and organize international workshops. In 2018, “Where the People Are? Workshop on People's Theatre in Inter-Asian Society,” a collaboration between local and international students, invited more than 30 people’s theatre practitioners and scholars from 8 countries across Northeast and Southeast Asia and Africa to participate, and hosted a document exhibition. In 2019, we also assisted local and international students in organizing a new “Muslim Film Reading Group,” so that they can prepare to launch the “Muslim International Film Festival 2020”.
7. Cross-campus collaboration: Through the platform provided by the University System of Taiwan, faculties from all four universities collaborate on our International Master’s Program in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (IACS), which facilitates cross-campus collaboration and exchange of ideas for both students and faculties.

 

(2) Academic research: Cross-disciplinary cooperation and establish system of transnational cross-disciplinary collaboration between institutes

1. Strengthen international networks and establish transnational cross-disciplinary institutional collaboration alliances.
   i. In 2018, through a successful bid of funding from Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) and the Mellon Foundation, we are able to collaborate with 7 international academic institutes, 25 international scholars, and 7 allied institutes to develop the Global Humanities Institute (2019-2020) project: “Migration, Global Logistics, and Unequal Citizens in Contemporary Global Context”. In 2019, we had 2 organizing committee meetings and exchanged with our international collaborators at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We will cooperate to organize at international summer school, titled Migration, Logistics, and Unequal Citizens in Contemporary Global Context, in June 2020. Website: http://ghi2020.blog.nctu.edu.tw/ 。
   
   ii. We will continue the 12-year collaboration between ICCS and partnering institute “Ici et ailleurs: Association pour une Philosophie Nomade” to co-host the international summer school “The Island: Insularity, Archipelagos: A Geophilosophical Issue” in Greece. Website: http://practphilab.aegean.gr/theisland/
    
2. Continue signing research and teaching MOUs with foreign institutes: We continue our collaboration with overseas institutes and seek to sign new MOUs on research and teaching exchange. In 2018 – 2019, we signed 16 MOUs with international institutes.
3. International collaboration: Recruit distinguished international scholars and establish internationalizing research and teaching environment：
   i. Yushan Scholar: We have recruited Prof. Alain Brossat, Professor Emeritus of Department of Philosophy at Université Paris VIII, to be our researcher-in-residence. Prof. Brossat conducts research and lectures, mentors and supervises graduate students, and assist us to invite international scholars for visits and to establish partnership. In 2019, Prof. Alain Brossat organized 2 large international workshops, invited 5 international scholars to conduct 10 seminars, and published 2 monographs, 1 co-author volume, and 9 research papers digitally. He also conducted 1 public lecture, participated in 15 ICCS academic events, and advised and mentored 1 group of graduate students on and 3 working groups of graduate students.
   
   ii. International scholars-in-residence: We invite distinguish professors to be our scholars-in-residence and to teach in Taiwan. In 2018 – 2019, we invited 7 distinguished international scholars to be our scholars-in-residence to teach courses in Taiwan, including 2 in long-term basis and 5 in short-term basis.
   
   iii. Short-term visiting scholars: In 2018 – 2019, we invited 104 international scholars (40 in 2018, 64 in 2019) to give talks and seminars so as to facilitate intellectual exchange.
   
   iv. Collaborate in organizing international academic events: Based on the academic direction of ICCS’s SPROUT project and the sub-projects, we collaborate to organize international conferences, workshops, and seminars. In 2018 – 2019, we organized 9 international conferences (3 in 2018, 6 in 2019), 25 international seminars (10 in 2018, 15 in 2019), and 15 smaller international and sub-project workshops (3 in 2018, 12 in 2019).

 

 

(3) Industry-Academia Cooperation: Social practice, dialogue between academia and society, diversity in knowledge production

1. Stranger Cooperation: This workshop is organized by 12 local and international students and is based in Dongmen Market, Hsinchu. The workshop motto is “to promote cultural exchange across classes and the barriers between the local and the international by creating a new landscape in the market from cultures of different classes and locations.” This workshop explores issues surrounding the proletariat in different societies, including migrant workers, immigrants, refugees, gender inequality, environmental justice, and the social support system, in order to facilitate everyday dialogues between academics and citizens. Stranger Cooperation also publishes zines as e-books to circulate these discussions. Facebook page: https://zh-tw.facebook.com/strangercoop/
2. Migrant Worker Issues and Social Dialogue:
   i. “Conditions, Difficulties, and Possible Futures of Migrant Workers” Roundtable Discussion (December 22, 2018): We invited 7 NGO organizations from Thailand, Korea, and Taiwan for discussion.
   
   ii. Migrant Worker Film Festival (March 15, 2018-May 24, 2019): We picked five films that are concerned with migrant worker conditions and their labor rights: Still, We Are Migrant Workers, Tea Land, Long Time No Sea, The Helper, Squid Jigging Fishing Boat. These films were screened 25 times around Taiwan, and received great feedback.
   
   iii. Dialogue between Law and Society: Conference on Protecting Migrant Labor Rights and Policy (November 16, 2019): We invited scholars working on legal policies regarding migrant worker issues and NGOs to discuss labor rights issues faced by migrant workers. We also plan to publish white paper and conference proceedings.
   
   iv. Sixth Fuel Factory Project and Artistic Intervention: Through artistic intervention into community building, ecological surveillance through smart technologies, and a reconstruction of the historical landscape through a hybrid of textual/historical field research and augmented reality. This project encourages the active participation of Hsinchu citizens and the global public, and turns Hsinchu’s postwar relic Sixth Fuel Factory into a lively “Hsinchu Living Museum.”
    

 

 

(4) Research Contribution: Allow academic work to face social issues, promote the evolution of Taiwanese society

1. Research publication.：
   i. Books and academic journal articles: In 2018-2019, we published39 journal articles in local and international journals; 125conference articles in local and international conferences; 24 articles are published in influential SSCI, A&HCI, THCI, and TSSCI journals. 2 books and journal special issues were published through international collaboration and co-edited by our researcher. 45 international conference papers were published through group participation in 18 international conferences. 15 books that are related to the ICCS project and researchers were published through ICCS support. We also continue to support the publication of Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Router, and Renjian Thought Review, and we published a total of 15 journal issues from 2018-2019.
   
   ii. Working Paper Series Online Publication: In year 2018-2019, ICCS-WPS (with academic review system, ISSN 2707-2193) published 15 online articles. Website: https://iccs.nctu.edu.tw/zh/wps.php
    
2. ICCS works on inter-Asian critical studies on areas revolving around Taiwan. We also propose cross-regional academic collaborations, in order to improve inequalities in the society.
   i. Social intervention: We promote dialogue between academia across regions and NGOs; we especially focus on urgent issues such as migrant workers, refugees, and unequal citizens; we also propose white papers that suggest policy changes.
   
   ii.Artistic intervention: We propose all kinds of cross-regional exhibition, workshops, and documentaries.
    
3. 3. ICCS supports journals such as Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Router, and Renjian Thought Review, and the online publication of Working Paper Series. All these publications demonstrate important influence and academic significance.

 

 

(5) Environmental Construction

1. Establishing Regulations Related to the Center: We established administrative regulations, executive committee, and functional teams, and hold meetings on a regular basis
2. Independent administrative office for ICCS
3. ICCS website that serves multiple functions:http://iccs.nctu.edu.tw/zh/index.php
4. National Chiao Tung University offers matching grants to assist with office space and the promotion of related activities.

 

 

Project Plans for Years 2020 – 2022:

To continue our strategies in 2018 – 2019, during years 2020 – 2022, ICCS will continue to follow our five directions: outreach, connection, cultivation, practice, and publication. Our plans for 2020 – 2022 are as follows:

(1) Cultivate talents, fulfill educational goals, train future leaders in academic and professional roles:

1. Contract-based teaching staff and postdoctoral fellows: During 2020 – 2022, subjected to our funding, we will recruit two outstanding local and international contract-based teaching staff and several postdoctoral fellows to execute our research projects, to teach IACS courses, and to assist with administrative tasks associated with the projects
2. Short-term visits for overseas students: Following our TEEP project, we will continue to accept overseas graduate students to visit, especially those from our partnering institute, so as to attract more outstanding international students to study in Taiwan. We are expecting 10 – 15 short-term visiting overseas students in 2020 – 2022.
3. Short-term overseas visits for Taiwan-based students: We will continue to encourage our students to conduct fieldworks internationally and to exchange at our partnering institutes. We are expecting to support 20 – 30 students to conduct overseas fieldworks and attending international conferences each year during 2020 – 2022.
4. Continue to strengthen the recruitment of international students, and internationalize our teaching environment: We will continue to strengthen the recruitment of outstanding international students, and to further encourage students from different countries to engage with Inter-Asian critical studies, stimulate dialogues, and deepen the academic research. We will further increase the number of graduate thesis of Inter-Asian critical studies. By 2020 – 2022, in total, there will be 16 – 18 international PhD students at SRSC, supported by ICCS, and 30 – 35 master’s students at IACS and SRSC. We will ensure an internationalized teaching environment, so that both local and international students can participate in learning and implement research projects. We can thus foster an internationalized learning environment.
5. Graduate Student Digital Research Archive Project: We will continue to encourage our local and international graduate students to cooperate to implement the digital research archive project, titled “Conflict, Justice, Decolonization: Critical Studies of Inter-Asian Society” (CJD). The intended achievements of CJD include: (i) We will provide a platform for graduate students to participate in our research project and a space for co-learning through the digital research archive; (ii) Through the mentoring of PhD students, Master’s students will learn how to collect data and write articles; (iii) We will establish a sharing platform of research resources; (iv) We will strengthen international academic network.
6. We will continue to encourage graduate students to plan research projects and organize international workshops, so as to cultivate future leaders and organizers: In 2020 – 2022, we are expecting to encourage 4 to 8 groups of graduate students to plan research projects and organize international workshops.

 

(2) Academic research: Cross-disciplinary cooperation and establish system of transnational cross-disciplinary collaboration between institutes. Position ourselves in the field of Inter-Asia cultural and critical studies in the global context, building upon our partnership with prestigious academic institutes in Europe, North America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, we will build a sustainable transnational academic collaboration platform.

1. To plan international collaboration of publication plans in 2021 – 2022, and to implement an integrated research collaboration plan: Through the summer schools “Migration, Logistics, and Unequal Citizens in Contemporary Global Context” at NCTU and “The Island: Insularity, Archipelagos: A Geophilosophical Issue” in Greece in July 2020, we will form transnational editorial teams to plan international publication plan in 2021 – 2022 respectively. We aim at publish as special issues in academic journals or academic edited volumes, and we will set up and implement system of future academic research collaboration.
2. Continue signing research and teaching MOUs with foreign institutes: We will continue to create opportunities for international movements of students, so as to facilitate international exchange. We aim at creating systems of co-supervision of graduate thesis, dual degree, and joint degree program, so as to raise the status and popularity of NCTU Humanities and Social Sciences in the international academia.
3. Strengthen international collaboration: Recruit Recruit distinguished international scholars and establish internationalizing research and teaching environment
   i. Yushan Scholar: Prof. Alain Brossat, Professor Emeritus of Department of Philosophy at Université Paris VIII, will continue to be our researcher-in-residence in 2020 – 2022. Prof. Brossat will continue to conduct research and lecture, mentor and supervise graduate students, assist us to invite international scholars for visits and to establish partnership.
   
   ii. International scholars-in-residence: We will continue to invite distinguish professors to be our scholars-in-residence and to teach courses in Taiwan in 2020 – 2022. We are expecting to 1- 2 distinguished professors in long-term basis and 3 – 4 in short-term basis each year.
   
   iii. Short-term visiting scholars: In 2020 – 2022, we are expecting to invite 25 – 30 distinguished scholars to give talks and seminars so as to facilitate intellectual exchange each year.
   
   iv. Collaborate in organizing international academic events: Based on the academic direction of ICCS’s SPROUT project and the sub-projects, we collaborate to organize international conferences, workshops, and seminars. We are expecting to organize 10 – 15 academic talks by international scholars, and 6 – 8 international workshops, summer or winter schools, and conferences each year.

 

 

(3) Industry-Academia Cooperation: Social practice, dialogue between academia and society, diversity in knowledge production

1. Stranger Cooperation: We will continue to encourage the collaboration between local and international students and their “Stranger Cooperation,” which is based in Dongmen Market, Hsinchu. In the form of a workshop, the cooperation aims to “promote cultural exchange across classes and the barriers between the local and the international by creating a new landscape in the market from cultures of different classes and locations.” This workshop explores issues surrounding the proletariat in different societies, including migrant workers, immigrants, refugees, gender inequality, environmental justice, and the social support system, in order to facilitate everyday dialogues between academics and citizens. Stranger Cooperation also publishes zines as e-books to circulate these discussions.
2. Migrant Worker Issues and Social Dialogue: We will continue to organize activities related to migrant worker issues and social dialogue.
3. Sixth Fuel Factory Project and Artistic Intervention: Through artistic intervention into community building, Hsinchu’s postwar relic Sixth Fuel Factory was turned into a lively “Hsinchu Living Museum.”

 

 

(4) Research Contribution: Allow academic research to face social issues, and promote the improvement of Taiwan society

1. Academic publication: journal articles, book chapters, journals, monographs, WPS, etc.：
   i. We will continue the publication of books and journal articles, in particular international collaboration, so as to building ICCS international reputation. During 2020 – 2022, we are expecting to publish at least 8 academic books, 22 articles in Taiwan and international academic journals, 15 book chapters, and 67 conference papers.
   
   ii. We will continue the online publication of Working Paper Series (with academic review system, ISSN 2707-2193).
    
2. Social intervention: We will continue to focus on social issues and organize forums, and propose white papers that suggest policy changes.
3. Artistic intervention: We will continue to encourage researchers and graduate students to execute projects, organize exhibition, and produce documentaries through artistic practice and social intervention.
4. We will continue to support journals such as Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Router, and Renjian Thought Review. We plan on publishing 9 journal issues during 2020 – 2022, with a total of 27 issues

 

 

(5) Environmental Construction

1. Establishing Regulations Related to the Center: We established administrative regulations, executive committee, and functional teams, and hold meetings on a regular basis
2. Continue to strengthen the multiple functions of the ICCS website: http://iccs.nctu.edu.tw/zh/index.php
3. We will continue to apply for matching grants from National Chiao Tung University to assist with research and conference spaces and the promotion of related activities.