UCLA

This research examines the formation of a Taiwanese American identity from a transnational perspective, filling a scholarly gap in the understanding of intraethnic diversity. Before the surge of Taiwanese immigration to the United States since the 1970s, Taiwanese Americans and Chinese Americans were often perceived as a single ethnonational group, and the two identities conflated. As they have established themselves as a distinct community, Taiwanese Americans, the children of Taiwanese immigrants in particular, have proactively constructed a distinct identity separate from Chinese Americans. The lifting of martial law in 1987 and democratization in Taiwan in the 1990s allowed Taiwanese and the Taiwanese diaspora to publicly and vocally oppose the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist party and its one-party rule in Taiwan, giving rise to increasing public support for Taiwanese nationalism and Taiwanization efforts, encouraging Taiwanese Americans to fully embrace the Taiwanese independence movement, create and reinforce a Taiwanese American identity, and call for recognition of Taiwan in international organizations. I argue that the Taiwanese American identity is formed through the disidentification from Chinese American community, construction of socioeconomic support networks, engagement with transnational political activism, and appropriation of Taiwanese Indigenous symbols.