Jo in the Centre for Chinese Research (CCR) for the upcoming talk - In the Glo bal Vanguard: Agrarian Development and the Making of Modern Taiwan.
I n just half a century\, Taiwan transformed from an agricultural colony into an economic power\, spurred by efforts of the authoritarian Republic of Ch ina government in land reform\, farmers associations\, and improved crop va rieties. Yet overlooked is how Taiwan brought these practices to the develo ping world. In the Global Vanguard elucidates the history and impact of the “Taiwan model” of agrarian development by incorporating how Taiwanese expe rts took the country’s agrarian success and exported it throughout rural co mmunities across Africa and Southeast Asia. Driven by the global Cold War a nd challenges to the Republic of China’s legitimacy\, Taiwanese agricultura l technicians and scientists shared their practices\, which they claimed we re better suited for poor\, tropical societies in the developing world. The se development missions\, James Lin argues\, were projected in Taiwan as pr oof of the ruling government’s modernity and technical prowess and were cru cial to how the state sought to hold onto its contested position in the int ernational system and its rule by martial law at home.
About the Speaker
James Lin is associate professor of internationa l studies at the University of Washington\, Seattle\, and chair of the Univ ersity of Washington Taiwan Studies Program. He is author of In the Global Vanguard: Agrarian Development and the Making of Modern Taiwan (University of California Press 2025)\, which is available to read open access.
CATEGORIES:Featured Events,Featured News &\; Events LOCATION:Liu Institute for Global Issues - xʷθəθiqətəm (Place of many trees) GEO:49.268776;-123.199987 URL;VALUE=URI:https://sppga.ubc.ca/events/event/global-vanguard/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://sppga.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/11/image-2.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Vancouver BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 DTSTART:20251102T090000 TZNAME:PST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR