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I-Wen Chen, carol0110@as.edu.tw

【Abstract】
Over the past thirty years, one of the most prominent transformations in Taiwan’s fishing villages and coastal communities has been their rapid "touristification," marked specifically by the proliferation of new festivals centered on iconic marine species. This lecture analyzes the shifting symbolic meanings of two primary festival subjects—Grey mullet and Milkfish—within the context of this tourism-driven evolution. These are contrasted with Tilapia, a critical aquaculture species, alongside a brief examination of the Pacific bluefin tuna. Drawing on the concepts of historical "indigeneity" and material "affordance," this talk explores how Grey mullet and Milkfish have been imbued with heightened social, cultural, and political significance. Propelled by the machinery of rural tourism, these species have seen their symbolic status elevated to embody a robust sense of "nationness." In contrast, the relative absence of Tilapia from the tourist landscape which has resulted in a lack of promotional marketing through local festivals as well as other significant specific factors has hindered the construction of its locality and, by extension, its national character. Finally, while the Pacific bluefin tuna has risen to fame through festive branding, its lack of historical and cultural depth presents unique challenges in the shaping of national meaning.
【Bio】
A-chin HSIAU is a research fellow and professor at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica. He works on the areas of nationalism, generational identity, historical narrative, collective memory, territorial disputes, and tourism. He is the author of Contemporary Taiwanese Cultural Nationalism (2000), Politics and Cultural Nativism in 1970s Taiwan: Youth, Narrative, Nationalism (2021), Return to Reality: Political and Cultural Change in 1970s Taiwan and the Postwar Generation (in Chinese, 2nd edition, 2010), Reconstructing Taiwan: Contemporary Cultural Politics of Nationalism (in Chinese, 2012), and Contemporary Cultural Politics of Taiwanese Nationalism (in Korean, 2024). He is the co-editor of Cultural, Ethnic, and Political Nationalism in Contemporary Taiwan: Bentuhua (2005), Ethnicity, Nation, and the Modern State: Rethinking Theory and Experience in Taiwan and China (in Chinese, 2016), Les Liens de la Memoire: Itineraires Taïwanais (2024), and The Bonds of Memory: Taiwanese Itineraries (in Chinese, forthcoming). He is about to finish a book in Chinese entitled Experiencing the Local: the Ocean, Fishing Village Tourism, and Taiwan's National Imaginary.