School of Languages and Area Studies (SLAS)

Profile

Qualifications

• PhD, Department of Politics and International Studies, School of Oriental and Africa Studies, University of London
• BA, MA, National Taiwan University

Research Clusters

• International Development Studies and Security Issues
• Women and Gender Studies Cluster
• Cross-University Gender Group

Discipline Areas

• Marriage Migration
• East Asian Migration
• Citizenship
• National Identity
• Multiculturalism
• Gender
• Taiwan Studies
• Overseas Chinese Studies
• Women’s political participation

Research CV

Current Research Projects
Currently I am working on the following drafts:
1. ‘Which Team Do You Support? Situating Immigrant Women’s In-Between Identity’. Arguing that immigrant women develop an in-between identity whereby they express personal bonding with both the natal and residing countries, this paper will examine international sports events as an occasion for experiencing the in-between identity (presenting at the 10th Annual Conference of European Association of Taiwan Studies, 2-5 May 2013, University of Lyon)

2. ‘Bridging Across or Sandwiched Between? The In-Between Identity of Chinese Immigrant Women in Taiwan’. Focusing on marriage immigrant women from China, this paper explores how they conceive their position in the rising Taiwanese identity vis-à-vis their Chinese identity. With a stress on their motherhood experiences, this paper presents how their in-between identity is enacted upon in the potential conflict between Taiwan and China. (presenting at Conference on Taiwan in Dynamic Transition, 24-26 May, University of Alberta)

3. ‘Immigration and Nation: How Immigration Laws Redraw the Border and Boundary of the Nation-State of Taiwan’. Examining the evolution of immigration and nationality legislation of Taiwan, this paper argues that the legislation is a legal tool to redraw the border of the nation-state and refine the boundary of national community.(presenting at Young Scholars Workshop, European Research Centre on Contemporary Taiwan, 26-30 June, University of Tuebingen)

4. ‘Resistance and Participation: Immigrant Women’s Political Participation in Taiwan’: Underlining immigrant women’s often overlooked legal status as citizen, this paper will examine how citizenship is exercised in their everyday life in the private family domain as well as public sphere.

Authored Books

• I am in the process of transforming my doctoral thesis ‘The Becoming of Immigrant from Outsiders to In-Betweens: The National Identity of Immigrant Women in Taiwan’ into a book proposal.

Journal Articles

• Cheng, Isabelle (2013), ‘Making Foreign Women the Mother of Our Nation: the Excluding and Assimilating Immigrant Wives from Outside’, Asian Ethnicity 14(2): 157-179, February.
• Cheng, Isabelle, Fell, Dafydd (2013), ‘Taiwan's Claim to Multiculturalism before and after 2008: The Impact of Changing Ruling Parties on Immigration Policies’, Journal of Current Chinese Affairs (under review).

Book Chapters

• Cheng, Isabelle (2013), ‘Home-Going or Home-Making? The Citizenship Legislation and Chinese Identity of Indonesian Chinese Women in Taiwan’, in Fell, Dafydd, Chiu, Kuei-fen, Lin, Ping (eds.), Migration to and from Taiwan. London: Routledge (forthcoming).
• Tseng, Yu-chin, Cheng, Isabelle, Fell, Dafydd (2013), ‘The politics of the Mainland Spouses’ Rights Movement in Taiwan’, in in Fell, Dafydd, Chiu, Kuei-fen, Lin, Ping (eds.), Migration to and from Taiwan. London: Routledge (forthcoming).

Book Review

• Review Bryan Fanning (2011), Immigration and Social Cohesion in the Republic of Ireland, Manchester: University of Manchester, in Taiwan in Comparative Perspective 2012, Volume 4: Special Issue on Taiwan and Ireland in Comparative Perspective.