Taiwan On-Air 空中直播台灣

This episode’s host, Adina Zemanek, invited Dr. Bonny Ling, executive director of Work Better Innovations, to talk about Taiwan as a home for migrant workers, and decent work in supply chains. After a brief overview of key risks in this area, we touched upon Taiwan’s major legislation to date in a global context, and addressed the importance of economic diplomacy for Taiwan – being seen as a responsible global actor in business and human rights. Drawing on our guest’s experience as a practitioner, we then explored how Taiwanese suppliers see their role as leaders in improving labour standards. Countering stereotypical associations between businesses and human rights abuses, we investigated the possibilities, limitations and responsibilities that firms perceive for themselves in transitioning to a fairer model of labour recruitment and protection, as well as the role of the 2020 National Action Plan in setting this transition in motion. Finally, we used a regional (Asian) framework of reference to discuss the need for Taiwan’s government to provide clear guidelines that could help Taiwanese companies bridge the knowledge gap between existing local legal frameworks and international human rights standards.

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In this episode, our host, Ti-han, invited one of her co-editors, Dr Ian Rowen, to talk about their forthcoming book publication, A Taiwanese Eco-literature Reader, soon to be published by Columbia University Press. This anthology brings together translations of nine compelling stories from Taiwan, examining Taiwan’s most vibrant literary genre and its resonance to the theme of HOME. While this podcast series has featured interviews with some of the anthology’s authors, Ian speaks from the perspective as an editor, showing why it is critical to work on translating Taiwanese eco-literature for global readers. On a personal note, Ian also reflects his own sense of belonging, and the evolving sense of HOME, and how Taiwan has played a key role in that journey.

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In this episode, our host, Ti-han, invited Ray Chin金磊, a Taiwanese wildlife photographer who pioneered in the field of underwater and cetacean photography. In the last two decades, Ray has travelled from Taiwan to the Pacific islands, then to the Galapagos islands and the Nordic seas to capture breathtaking photos of whales and dolphins. Today, not only he is passionate about marine wildlife photography, but also very committed in using art and photography as a medium to raise awareness for educating the younger generation about our ocean home. In this episode, we freely chatted about how Ray started his journey of photography, and how he perceives cetaceans as the neighbours of our Home, Taiwan.

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In this podcast, the host, Lara Momesso, introduces a book she co-edited with Dr Polina Ivanova (University of Bremen) titled Refugees and Asylum Seekers in East Asia: Perspective from Japan and Taiwan (Palgrave MacMillan, 2024), and she interviews one of the authors of the book, Dr Shu-fen Lin, at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. In this chat, Shu-fen Lin explores the life story of a Vietnamese refugee, Father Nguyễn Văn Hùng, who escaped Vietnam via boat in the late 1970s and arrived in Japan, and then went to Australia and, eventually, Taiwan. The story of Father Nguyễn Văn Hùng intersects with the immigration and refugee policies of Japan, Australia and Taiwan, his fight for justice in Taiwan as well as Vietnam, and his future ambitions and goals.

For those who are interested to know more about this conversation, here you can find the link of the book and here the link of the specific chapter. The book is available open access, so feel free to share it with your network!

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In this episode, our host Lara Momesso interviews Yi-Fan Feng (馮一凡), the Deputy Chief Executive at Harmony Home Taiwan, to discuss the work that Harmony Home has done with some of the most marginalised people in Taiwan: people living with HIV/AIDS and undocumented residents and their children. In this chat, Lara and Yi-Fan explore how more than 40 years of activities by Harmony Home have contributed not only to help people living with HIV/AIDS and undocumented residents but also to change the way the Taiwanese government and society approached these groups.

If you want to know more about Harmony Home, what they do and how to support it, follow this link: www.twhhf.org

If you want to watch the documentary movie mentioned in the interview, Mimi’s Utopia, follow this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjVfVEl58WU

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In this episode, our host, Ti-han, invited a renown Taiwanese sci-fi writer, Kao Yi-feng, to talk about his fictional writings. Yi-feng is known for his way of combining elements of fantasy and magical realism with specific “linguistic features” of Hakka. In our conversation, Yi-feng recounts how his background of living in a Hakka-speaking community influences his lifelong creativity, and how spatial and bodily movement also allows him to shape and reshape the sense of “home” in his own novels. The podcast interview focussed in part on his work, Bubble War 泡沬戰爭 (2014), but it also links with how Yi-feng conceives Island Writing for Taiwan today!

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In this episode, our host Lara Momesso interviews Dr Isabelle Cockel, an academic based in the UK, to discuss the wider impact of her academic work. Isabelle’s extensive research on marriage and labour migrants in Taiwan has evolved into efforts to raise awareness of migrant issues beyond the academic sphere both in Asia and Europe. She has written blogs featuring migrant voices, translated and promoted films about migrants, and, whenever possible, she has worked to assist migrants in Taiwan.

For those who are interested to know more about Isabelle’s work, here you can find some links:

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In this episode, our host, Ti-han, invited Taiwanese Queer author, Kevin Chen, to talk about his LGBTQ novel, Ghost Town (Europa Editions, 2022) 鬼地方 and its fever worldwide. In our conversation, Kevin shared with us how he first “come out” as a gay writer in Taiwan in the 90s, and how his writings was influenced by key Taiwanese LGBTQ authors and continue to be shaped by his migratory experiences in Berlin. He also told us how he thinks translation and the transability of a literary work can be useful in terms of authors’ impacts on society. If you’re a fan of Kevin’s writing, you certainly can’t miss this episode!

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In this episode, our host, Ti-han, invited Taiwanese author, Chiou Charng-ting, to talk about her novel writing, which blends in elements of religious folklore and indigenous mythologies. In our conversation, Charng-ting told us how her hometown, Taitung, inspired her with its amazing sceneries and cultural landscapes. She further shared with us how folk and mythological tales can be powerful means in shaping an author’s creativity.

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This episode’s host, Adina Zemanek, invited Sherry Lee, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO of the non-profit, independent media organization The Reporter, for a conversation on a recent graphic journalism series, The Reporter File. We talked about what inspired the inauguration of this series and its role alongside traditional news reporting, the characteristics of these graphic narratives, pathways for establishing collaboration with the publisher of the print edition and with comics artists, other works of comics journalism published by The Reporter, and further plans.

The two graphic narratives can be accessed at the following links: 留學黑工/Study Abroad Illegal Workers (volume 1, 2022) and 神木下的罪行/Crime Under the Sacred Trees (volume 2, 2023).

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