Who are we: Imagination of nationhood and Chinese brides

• Main Authors: Yang Szuman, 楊斯曼
• Other Authors: 朱元鴻
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/58875898487646371221

碩士 === 東海大學 === 社會學系 === 94 === This article applies political community theory and symbolic violence theory to restore the social position and symbolic struggle among political communities in the naturalization process of Chinese brides. It is found that the domestic evaluation about Chinese brides in becoming citizens of Republic of China is still in uncertain condition. The ambiguous and unclear national images of Chinese brides is due to the uncertain political community in Taiwan which its operation context is to make assumption about its members: When the entire order of Taiwan society needs to be inspired, the Chinese brides are considered as good ones. In contrast, once the integration of the entire society fails, Chinese brides turn into unpleasant intruders. They are made as rejected objects and also scapegoats which to be purified. In another word, the imagined “who are we” of Taiwan society is not mechanically and stably constructed but in power struggle context. With fieldwork and observation research methods, this study interviewed the first generation of mainland veterans and Chinese brides from an army veterans’ village in Taichung suburb. The analysis key point of each chapter is as follow: Through the concept of “sincere fiction of a disinterested exchange”, the first part restores the social legitimacy of the marriage between veterans and Chinese brides to retort the partial Taiwanese dominant discussion which consider their marriages as “marriage with the lack of affective foundation”. The following part explains “Chineseness” and “Taiwaneseness” from the perspective of national identity and their competitive relation on we-hood imagination. Through the marriage with Chinese brides, some veterans wish to amend their national identities which have been cut apart by the Taiwanese nationalists in office. Meanwhile, the third part examines the Taiwan sovereignty in expropriating foreigners in obtaining Taiwan citizenship.