I am extremely grateful to the Center for Chinese Studies for enabling me to conduct research in Taiwan. In Taiwan, I benefited greatly from access to the library and archives at the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, the National Central Library, and, until it was rendered inaccessible by the earthquake in April, the National Taiwan Library. Thanks to my time in these institutions, I was able to make progress on my project on the figure of the waste in film and visual culture in Taiwan from the 1960s to the early 1990s by locating films, television programs, and works of photo-journalism that contend with environmentalism and labor. I discovered and watch an obscure film The Maiden’s Prayer (1975) and watched episodes of the 1980s documentary 百工圖 dealing with environmental inspections at the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute. I read through issues of Renjian 人間, Wenxue jikan文學季刊 , Con-temporary 當代, Today’s World 今日世界, located master’s theses on the history of garbage administration in Taiwan, and read administrative documents on establishment of the Department of Environmental Protection 環境保護局, which manages garbage and sanitation. Based on this research, I have presented a paper titled at the 2025 Modern Languages Association Annual Conference in New Orleans, and I will present another paper titled “The Sound of Hygienic Modernity in The Maiden’s Prayer (1975)” at the 2025 Society of Cinema and Media Studies Conference in Chicago.
In additional to the opportunity to conduct archival research, I appreciated the opportunity to develop closer connections with scholars in Taiwan at National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University, and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. Being based in Taiwan also allowed me to meet scholars based in other parts of Asia, such as Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam. As an American scholar of East Asia, I have truly appreciated the opportunity for intellectual exchange outside of North America, which has given me a deeper understanding of the scholarly landscape of the field.
- Yvonne Lin
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures