The East Asia Media Studies Center, affiliated with the Graduate Research Faculty of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University, will be co-hosting a lecture entitled "Raising Voices from the Periphery and the Interstitial Space: Initiatives on the Frontline Islands in the Taiwan Crisis" on December 16th, in collaboration with JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) 23K25484 entitled "The Formation of Discussion Space and Collective Memory Related to Social Movements and War in Asia in the Digital Age."

In recent years, the situation surrounding Taiwan has been attracting attention from around the world. Foreign media from various perspectives have flocked to Taiwan's outlying islands, seeking to portray the situation as "tense" or "peaceful," but many local people say they feel a strong sense of discomfort with the perspective portrayed by this media. In order to overcome the image of "islands on the front lines" created by the media, people living on the outlying islands have launched a variety of projects, including documentaries, events, sales, and publications, and have begun to share information about the islands in their own words. At the heart of this is the idea that outlying islands should not exist simply as "peripheries" of the mainland and the main island, but should instead connect with each other and form a network.
The speaker, who hails from the remote island of Penghu in Taiwan, has been building a new community through publishing. In this lecture, we will hear about the process and historical background of his work, the voices of the islanders, and current issues.
Before we can discuss a "Taiwan emergency," we must first listen to the voices of those on the ground. I hope that this lecture will be one such opportunity and that many people will participate.

For more information, please see here. *You will be redirected to the Hokkaido University Research Faculty of Media and Communication website.