Cultural Identity Negotiation in Taiwan's Night Markets
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Introduction
Taiwan's night markets are complex cultural spaces where vendors balance tradition with modern business needs. Walking through these markets, you'll notice vendors switching languages and serving different foods to tourists versus locals. This shows how cultural identity isn't fixed but performed differently depending on the audience and economic pressures.
Central Question
How do Taiwan's night markets function as sites of cultural identity negotiation, particularly in the preservation and evolution of Taiwanese and Hakka culinary traditions versus broader Chinese food culture?
Research Scope
Thesis Statement
Taiwan's night markets work as contested cultural spaces where different versions of "Taiwanese identity" are negotiated, performed, and sometimes erased. This shows how post-colonial food politics work in everyday commercial spaces while showing digital documentation's potential to democratize cultural representation.
Research Sites
Each market represents a different aspect of cultural identity negotiation in contemporary Taiwan:
Shilin Night Market
Tourism vs. Authenticity
How vendors strategically perform "authentic Taiwanese culture" for tourist consumption while maintaining separate cultural practices for locals, revealing the gap between commodified identity and lived cultural experience.
Raohe Street Night Market
Ethnic Identity Competition
How Hakka vendors negotiate space for their distinct identity within mainstream "Taiwanese culture," revealing that Taiwan's cultural identity is contested between different ethnic communities rather than being unified.
Huaxi Street Night Market
Authentic vs Commodified Culture
How working-class vendors maintain authentic versions of Taiwanese cultural practices that resist both tourist expectations and middle-class cultural trends, creating alternative definitions of "authentic Taiwan."
Kenting Night Market
Tourism & Regional Identity
How seasonal tourism economies shape regional food identity in southern Taiwan, showing adaptation strategies that balance local traditions with visitor expectations.
Theoretical Framework
Post-Colonial Food Politics
This investigation builds on Yu-Jen Chen's analysis of ethnic politics in Taiwan's national cuisine (Chen 2011), which shows how state institutions choose to promote certain foods as "authentically Taiwanese" while pushing aside others.
Watching night market vendor practices shows a complex negotiation between post-colonial resistance and economic survival, revealing cultural identity as an active, strategic performance.
Research Methodology
This research uses critical observational analysis across four Taiwan night markets, following Chen and Huang's (2014) framework for analyzing vendor behaviors while using postcolonial and cultural studies approaches that look at power dynamics in everyday cultural spaces.
Research Process
Observe
Cultural performances and vendor-customer interactions
Analyze
Power dynamics and cultural politics using postcolonial theory
Document
Multiple cultural narratives through digital platforms
Critical Observation
Observational analysis focusing on cultural identity performance: language switching, menu variations for different audiences, spatial organization of stalls, and vendor-customer interactions that reveal power dynamics and cultural negotiations.
Postcolonial Analysis
Using orientalism framework and cultural capital theory to analyze how cultural authenticity is built, performed, and contested within commercial spaces shaped by colonial and postcolonial power relations (Said 1978; Bourdieu 1984).
Digital Documentation
Experimental use of digital platforms to capture multiple, simultaneous cultural stories that traditional heritage documentation often flattens or erases (Srinivasan and Luther 2016), looking at technology's potential for democratizing cultural representation.
Research Contribution
Academic Contribution
This research contributes to Taiwan studies, food studies, and digital humanities by showing how cultural identity works as a contested political performance rather than a fixed tradition.
By examining the gap between official cultural narratives and lived cultural practices, this analysis reveals the power dynamics that determine cultural visibility and marginalization.
Methodological Innovation
Methodologically, this study shows how digital documentation can capture the multiple, simultaneous versions of cultural identity that coexist within single spaces.
This suggests new directions for participatory heritage preservation that move beyond institutional control toward community-driven cultural representation (Giglitto and Ciolfi 2023).
Theoretical Sources
Taiwan Studies & Food Politics
- • Chen, Y.-J. (2011). Ethnic Politics in the Framing of National Cuisine
- • Wu and Lin (2013). Night Markets Culture and Tourism Experience
- • Chen and Huang (2014). Tourism Night Markets Supply-Side Analysis
- • Su (2023). Democratic Cultural Spaces and Community Hubs
Postcolonial & Cultural Theory
- • Said, E. (1978). Orientalism
- • Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of Taste
- • Scott, J. C. (1990). Domination and the Arts of Resistance
Digital Heritage Studies
- • Srinivasan and Luther (2016). Digital Documentation and Cultural Heritage
- • Giglitto and Ciolfi (2023). Participatory Heritage Preservation
Complete bibliography with additional postcolonial food studies sources available on the Sources page
Explore the Research
Start with the Case Studies
Explore the four market case studies to see how these theoretical concepts work in practice. Each market demonstrates different cultural dynamics and strategies.
View Market Case StudiesSee Individual Evidence
Read detailed vendor profiles that provide specific evidence for the theoretical arguments. Each profile shows how individual entrepreneurs navigate cultural identity politics.
Browse Vendor ProfilesOr use the Interactive Map to explore markets and vendors geographically