Center for Taiwan Studies “CTS”, UC Santa Barbara

Storytelling has long been at the heart of humanity. Everyone has a story to tell. No matter how ordinary it may seem, and no matter how inexperienced the person who solicits it, those who care to listen can learn a lot. Stories about childhood memories of people who grew up elsewhere allow us to see the world through their eyes, reflect on our own views, and build bridges across generations, cultures, oceans, and geographies.

The Center for Taiwan Studies (CTS) at the University of California, Santa Barbara teaches storytelling, collects childhood memories, and makes them accessible for readers and listeners around the world. Currently directed by Dr. Sabine Frühstück, the Center houses a project called, Made in Taiwan (MiT), designed to encourage students to engage in conversations about childhoods with individuals who grew up in Taiwan. Curated by CTS Research Fellow, Dr. Silke Werth, MiT is at once a public oral history project, a global open access digital research hub, and an archive of childhood memories in Taiwan. MiT guides budding student ethnographers in collecting memories of individuals from different biographical, ethnic, social, professional, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds who have one thing in common—having grown up in Taiwan. We believe that remembering and sharing childhood stories fosters curiosity in others’ lives, forges connections across generations and nations, and ultimately weaves a fabric of empathetic and peaceful coexistence.

On April 6–7, 2023, CTS will host the workshop “Global Storytelling: Narrating Childhoods in Taiwan” to celebrate the project’s growth and achievements. Scholars and students, Taiwanese experts and a filmmaker, ethnographers of childhood and youth, and members of the Taiwanese community will engage in critical, collective reflections about qualitative research methods and childhood stories from Taiwan.

If you, dear reader, are interested in attending the workshop, please contact us at eastasian-taiwanstudies@ucsb.edu or check out the CTS website for announcements. If you would like to share your memories of growing up in Taiwan, please be in touch and we will pair you with a student ready to listen and record! We are excited about adding more life stories to our archive of childhood memories and would love to add yours!

Silke Werth, Ph.D.
Research Fellow, Center for Taiwan Studies
UC Santa Barbara

UCSB  Silke Werth 教授 介紹該大學的“台灣研究中心”（Center for Taiwan Studies “CTS” )

                                                            （譯者 秦雪華Agnes Chin 2023年2月）

全球說故事：敘述台灣童年

述說故事是人們心中長存的思維。每個人都有一個他想説的故事，儘管那個故事似乎平凡，儘管說故事的人似乎缺乏經驗，但是喜歡聆聽的人總可以從故事裏學習了許多。成長在不同地區的人，他們的童年記憶，可以使我們經由他們的眼睛看到了世界，他們的觀感反映在我們的視野裏，並且讓我們為不同的世代、文化、海洋和地域搭建一座連接的橋梁。

加州大學聖塔芭芭拉分校（UC Santa Barbara) 的“台灣研究中心”（Center for Taiwan Studies “CTS”) 教導學生敘説故事、收集童年記憶，並且讓世界各地的讀者和聽衆都能獲取這些資料。目前在Sabine Fruhstuck 博士的督導下，該中心進行一項研究工作，叫做“生產於台灣”（Made in Taiwan “MiT”) 。這項研究鼓勵學生和在台灣成長的人互相談論他們在台灣的童年故事。Silke Werth 博士是 CTS 的研究策劃人，她使MiT立即成爲公眾口述歷史的工作項目，也成爲全球公共的、有數碼操作的研究中心，並且也是台灣童年記憶的檔案庫。MiT引導並培育民族學的學生收集來自於不同的出身、倫理觀念、社會、職業、文化以及不同語言背景的人的個人記憶，但這些人的共同點就是成長於台灣。我們深信 記起童年故事並且與人分享，能助長別人生活裏的好奇心、打造世代和世代之間以及國家和國家的連結，終究編織一塊互相體卹、和平共存的布匹。

2023年4月6日和7日，台灣研究中心“CTS” 將舉辦“全球說故事：敘述台灣童年”的工作研討會，目的在慶祝這個研究工作的發展和成就。學者和學生、台灣專家和影片製作家、研究童年和青年的民族學家、以及台灣社團人士將對於這項著重品質的研究方式和台灣童年故事給予綜合性的評論。

親愛的讀者，要是你有興趣參加這個工作研討會，請用email 和我們聯絡
eastasian-taiwanstudies@ucsb.edu

也可以參閲 台灣研究中心“CTS” 的網站。如果你想分享你在台灣成長的記憶，請聯繫我們，我們將安排一位學生聆聽並且錄下你敘述的故事。我們很高興能在我們的檔案庫裏添增更多童年生活故事的記憶，也喜歡你的故事加入其中。