"Taiwan from the Eyes of a Foreigner" is a book from 2011 written by a Canadian named Nick Kembel. His website was linked to me by my wife, because she saw it discussed on PTT. My first thought was: "Oh, another English teacher writing a book about Taiwan." First of all, let me be clear, that I have no problem, if English teachers write books about Taiwan. They are definitely a big community of foreign residents in Taiwan and it's fine if they share their experience. What I don't like is when the impression is made, that "the English teacher in Taiwan" represents "the foreigner in Taiwan" or "the Westerner in Taiwan" (euphemisms for "White person in Taiwan"). I haven't read the book, so I can't say anything about the content, but I don't like it the way it's presented on his website and reviewed and recommended by some other expat bloggers. Here are some examples:
Canadian Nick Kembel delves into the foreigner experience of Taiwan, based on two years of teaching English to children in the heart of Taipei City.
From a website dedicated to the book, source.
More appropriate would be: one foreigner's experience of Taiwan.
Kembel's blend of history, travelog and personal observations is aimed at both Taiwanese people who'd like to know what Westerners think of their country and Western people curious about the island's culture.
From the Blog Bradt Travel Guide, source.
More appropriate would be: what one Westerner thinks of their country.
For Taiwanese readers who are curious about how foreigners perceive Taiwan, they will find what attracts his attention an interesting (and perhaps sometimes startling) mirror, and the mental journeys he takes to interpret, understand and describe what he finds enlightening as to how the western mind reacts to Taiwan (whether the reader agrees with the conclusions or not).
From the website Taiwan Fun, source.
Why not: how one foreigner perceives Taiwan, how one western mind reacts to Taiwan?
In addition, you can read two interviews with the author, one on the TaiwanChannel and another one on Waakao. Let me stress once again, that I have nothing against the book per se, I just don't like the way it's advertised, because it gives the impression that the author represents all Westerners who live in Taiwan. I've read his biography on his website and learned about some of his experiences, views and impressions. I have to say very few match with mine and how I see and experience Taiwan - and I'm a foreigner and Westerner in Taiwan, too! It might be true that most White people in Taiwan are from North America and most work as English teachers, but there are a lot of Europeans here as well - we might not be "a community" like North Americans seem to be, but we are part of this society and we have opinions and views, which are not always the same with those of our North American friends, even though we all claim to be "Western" (whatever that means). The problem is, that Europeans (aside from Britons and Irish) usually don't work as teachers, we're scattered all over society, having very diverse jobs. And that's what's making it hard for us to have a sense of community. We usually have much less time than English teachers, we're more or less living the same life as most young urban Taiwanese (especially in Taipei).
I always take the term "Western" with a pinch of salt. It's a political term with lots of possible interpretations, but if you look closer, it becomes very vague. I would never see myself speaking on behalf of the "West" or thinking I'm representing the whole "West". I'm not even representing my small home country in any way - I am just me, that's all. I'm sure the author knows that, too, but when you promote a book, it sounds better, if you make yourself look more important than you are (referring to the notion of representing the West) - after all, you want to sell your book. Not sure, how well this book has sold so far, but the marketing strategy of the author is pretty impressive (he has two websites, one for him, one for the book). In any way, I wish him luck, but I have to stress, that the narrative surrounding the book and the author seems very cliched. And statements like this one don't help to improve this notion (from the interview on TheTaiwanChannel):
By "We foreigners" he probably means "We North Americans", since Japanese, Thais, Uzbeks, Saudis and Zimbabweans are also foreigners and I have a feeling he doesn't refer to them in that statement. Generally, I feel the whole sentence is wrong, Taiwanese can be very critical of their own culture - you can easily notice that, if check discussions on PTT, blogs, Twitter, Facebook - challenging own customs and cultural norms is part of Taiwan's online community as well as something very normal among the young generation. On the other hand it's highly debatable, how independence and free thought are encouraged in some parts of North America. There are areas, where you are threatened with violence by very religious people, if you openly say that you're an atheist.
This is what happens, if you speak in a too broad and vague sense and the author seems to do so in his interviews. Not sure, if this is reflected in his book as well, but it's definitely something that would turn me off from buying it. Nevertheless, the author and I have a lot in common: We try to understand Taiwan, we try to present it to others or just want to give another perspective on what was already said before. I commend him for the effort and I can completely understand how much energy it takes to write. I haven't published a book yet (and I have no plan to do so), but my over 500 posts about Taiwan could surely be stuffed in a lot of books, if I wanted. This blog is my outlet, where I share whatever comes to mind. A lot of stuff is about Taiwan in recent two years, because this is where I live my life now and my blog is about my life - Kafkaesque that is. One day, when I return to Europe, I might have time to write a book about Taiwan. I hope someone will take the effort to write a critical review - if that will be the case, then I will know, that I made things right.
I always take the term "Western" with a pinch of salt. It's a political term with lots of possible interpretations, but if you look closer, it becomes very vague. I would never see myself speaking on behalf of the "West" or thinking I'm representing the whole "West". I'm not even representing my small home country in any way - I am just me, that's all. I'm sure the author knows that, too, but when you promote a book, it sounds better, if you make yourself look more important than you are (referring to the notion of representing the West) - after all, you want to sell your book. Not sure, how well this book has sold so far, but the marketing strategy of the author is pretty impressive (he has two websites, one for him, one for the book). In any way, I wish him luck, but I have to stress, that the narrative surrounding the book and the author seems very cliched. And statements like this one don't help to improve this notion (from the interview on TheTaiwanChannel):
We foreigners speak very directly, coming from a culture that encourages independence and free thought, while the Taiwanese are not so accustomed to critical thinking, particularly in regards to their own culture.
By "We foreigners" he probably means "We North Americans", since Japanese, Thais, Uzbeks, Saudis and Zimbabweans are also foreigners and I have a feeling he doesn't refer to them in that statement. Generally, I feel the whole sentence is wrong, Taiwanese can be very critical of their own culture - you can easily notice that, if check discussions on PTT, blogs, Twitter, Facebook - challenging own customs and cultural norms is part of Taiwan's online community as well as something very normal among the young generation. On the other hand it's highly debatable, how independence and free thought are encouraged in some parts of North America. There are areas, where you are threatened with violence by very religious people, if you openly say that you're an atheist.
This is what happens, if you speak in a too broad and vague sense and the author seems to do so in his interviews. Not sure, if this is reflected in his book as well, but it's definitely something that would turn me off from buying it. Nevertheless, the author and I have a lot in common: We try to understand Taiwan, we try to present it to others or just want to give another perspective on what was already said before. I commend him for the effort and I can completely understand how much energy it takes to write. I haven't published a book yet (and I have no plan to do so), but my over 500 posts about Taiwan could surely be stuffed in a lot of books, if I wanted. This blog is my outlet, where I share whatever comes to mind. A lot of stuff is about Taiwan in recent two years, because this is where I live my life now and my blog is about my life - Kafkaesque that is. One day, when I return to Europe, I might have time to write a book about Taiwan. I hope someone will take the effort to write a critical review - if that will be the case, then I will know, that I made things right.
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