Knowledge production in the era of neo-liberal globalization: reflections on the changing academic conditions in Taiwan
Kuan-Hsing CHEN and Sechin Y. S. CHIEN (Translated by Tao-lin HWANG)
Abstract
This essay is an intervention to interrupt the blind adoption of the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) by Taiwan's academic regime to evaluate scholarly work. Situating the changing local conditions of knowledge production in the larger context of neo-liberal globalization, we trace the trajectory of implementing the new evaluation system and then pinpoint the critical impacts on intellectual work in this wave of 'internationalizing' research and publication promoted by the state bureaucracy. We argue for an alternative vision of globalization that is locally grounded, multiculturally nurturing and democratically driven.
Authors’ biographies
Kuan-Hsing Chen is Professor in The Graduate Institute for Social Research and Cultural Studies, Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. He also coordinates the Center for Asia-Pacific/Cultural Studies, and is a co-executive editor of Inter-Asia Cultural Studies.
Sechin Y.S. Chien is an associate research fellow in the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. He is the editor of Reflexion (Sixiang) and the author of Beyond Indulgence and Nihilism (2001, Taipei: Linkin Publisher Co.), a collection of papers on political philosophy.
Translator’s biography
Tao-lin Hwang was a writer, translator and independent scholar, based in Taipei. He passed away on August 4, 2007.