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ICS lecture: Hsin-I Sydney Yueh, "Understanding Taiwanese Culture through the Native Term Sajiao"

Professor Hsin-I Sydney Yueh graphic
March 8, 2019
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Page Hall 60 (1810 College Road)

The Institute for Chinese Studies presents "The Centenary of the May Fourth Movement" Lecture Series:

Hsin-I Sydney Yueh
Associate Professor, Dept. of Communication Studies
Northeastern State University

"Understanding Taiwanese Culture through the Native Term Sajiao" 

Flyer: Hsin-I Sydney Yueh Flyer

H. Yueh's 2017 book cover graphic
Abstract:  The Mandarin term sajiao is the key to understanding Taiwanese culture and its international relations in the world. Originally referring to a set of persuasive tactics through imitating a spoiled child’s gestures and ways of speaking to get attention or material goods, sajiao is commonly understood to be a woman’s weapon for the manipulation of men in Mandarin-speaking communities. However, this feminized pleading communication style tells us more than simply the “culture of cute” in Taiwan. In this talk, Dr. Yueh will introduce her research on sajiao in the framework of language and social interaction. Through the micro-analysis of this native cultural term and everyday language politics, this talk examines layers of discourse about gender, identity, and communication, and inquires how to situate “Taiwan” in a larger interdisciplinary conversation among scholars of intercultural communication, gender and language, and East Asian studies.

Bio: Hsin-I Sydney Yueh (PhD, University of Iowa, 2012) is Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Communication Studies at Northeastern State University. Her research and teaching are centered in intercultural communication, gender and language, ethnography of communication, and East Asian popular culture. Her book, Identity Politics and Popular Culture in Taiwan: A Sajiao Generation, won the Outstanding Book Award in the International and Intercultural Communication Division in the annual convention of National Communication Association in 2018.

Free and Open to the Public

 

This event is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.