邊疆、邊區與離散：邊緣研究的反思

Frontiers, Borderlands, and Diasporas: Reflections on Working at the Margins

本文分享我個人學術研究的經驗，特別是針對從事邊緣研究的反思。以此研究經驗分為四個主要階段：臺灣婦女運動史研究；臺灣的想像地理研究；歐亞雙族裔人研究；與亞洲之內研究（Inter-Asian Studies）研究。我提出，因為長期以來，我的學術研究主題正是邊緣（包括邊疆，邊區，文化接觸地帶，種族混血與離散社群），我個人並不逃避處於學術界或學術機構的邊緣與邊區的狀況。正因為處於邊緣與邊區，反而讓我獲得關於中心所具有的正反面之各種不同的、重要的、而且基本的見解。這些年來，我則特別從研究臺灣這樣一個被認為邊陲的地方，得到許多知識上的啟發與研究的能量。本文章也探討北美學術界種種「以北美為中心」（North American-centric）的傾向，批評西方學術界民族優越感的預設立場。最後我強調，雖然臺灣一直以來被認為是一個邊陲國家，但從各種批判性的角度來看，卻值得我們認真思考：何者是中心，何者是邊陲？ This essay traces my personal research experiences and trajectory, reflecting in particular on my engagement with frontier or border studies. I divide this research experience into four main periods: research on the Taiwanese feminist movement; research on Taiwan's imagined geography; research on Eurasian biracial identity; and Inter-Asian Studies. As a result of the research topics I have pursued over the years, I have spent my intellectual career at the margins, studying frontiers, borderlands, contact zones, mixed-race, and diasporas. I have come to realize that existing on the margins of academia or scholarly institutions is not a condition I seek to avoid, for it is at the margins and borders, I argue, that one can gain essential insights about the center, insights that come in both positive and negative form. Over the years, I have gained great intellectual stimulation and energy from studying one marginalized place in particular – Taiwan. This essay also critiques the North American-centric tendencies of North American academia, and the ethnocentric presumptions that often characterize Western scholarship. Finally, I emphasize that although we are used to considering Taiwan as a peripheral place, viewed from various critical standpoints, it is worth asking: which is periphery and which is center?