University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

"Writing ""Taiwanese"": The Péh-oē-jī romanization and identity construction in Taiwan, 1860s-1990s"

Su, Huang-Lan

Content Files
SU-DISSERTATION-2015.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/88263

Description

Title
"Writing ""Taiwanese"": The Péh-oē-jī romanization and identity construction in Taiwan, 1860s-1990s"
Author(s)
Su, Huang-Lan
Issue Date
2015-07-09
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Chow, Kai-Wing
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Chow, Kai-Wing
Committee Member(s)
  • Xu, Gary
  • Shao, Dan
  • Chang, Lung-Chih
Department of Study
E. Asian Languages & Cultures
Discipline
E Asian Languages & Cultures
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Date of Ingest
2015-09-29T21:03:02Z
Keyword(s)
  • Romanization
  • Taiwanese Identity
  • Pe̍h-oē-jī
Abstract
This dissertation explores how Pe̍h-oē-jī (Jiaohui roma zi/Baihua zi, literally meaning “church romanization” or “vernacular script” in Chinese, POJ hereafter) was transformed from a “foreign” writing system as a religious tool for Bible study into an identity arker for various groups of “Taiwanese” (Taiwan ren) in Taiwan from 1865 through the 1990s. Under three political regimes― the Qing Empire, Japanese colonial rule, and the post-war Nationalist regime, POJ, originally created by the Presbyterian Church missionaries for Taiwanese peoples in the 1860s, was utilized in proselytism, school education, medical study, and as an expression of Taiwanese culture and nationalism under different social, political, and cultural circumstances. Looking into the various ways whereby POJ has become symbolically associated with different identities deepens our understanding of how it was important in the process and politics of identity making in modern Taiwan. Based on POJ materials, I aim to provide the first history of POJ literacy in Taiwan and to provide an analysis of the critical role of POJ in the formation of “Taiwanese” identities in modern China.
Graduation Semester
2015-8
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/88263
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2015 Huang-Lan Su

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Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
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