The 23rd EATS Annual Conference at the University of Portsmouth on 1-3 April 2026
Conference theme: Echoes of Authority: Forty Years on from the Eve of the Lifting of Martial Law.
- Call for papers (pdf link)
- YSA call for papers (pdf link)
- Conference Programme
- Conference Circular (pdf link)
- 72 Hours with EATS through the Eyes of a Student Helper
- The World’s Most Inconvenient Democracy: What EATS 2026 Taught Me About Taiwan
Organising institution
The 23rd EATS Conference is hosted by the University of Portsmouth (UoP) on 1-3 April 2026 in
Portsmouth, UK.
With an expertise in Area Studies, the UoP ranked as the top university amongst modern universities in the UK and the second amongst all British universities for research power by the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. After hosting the 11th EATS Conference in April 2014 and a series of Taiwan related events afterwards, the UoP is an experienced host to welcome researchers to join this most significant event for Taiwan Studies academia in Europe.
Conference Theme
In 1986, coinciding with the clandestine formation of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)—then still illegal under martial law—few could have anticipated that the 38-year-old martial law would dissolve just one year later. In 1989, pro-democracy activist Cheng Nan jung’s dramatic self-immolation—a protest against sedition laws and restrictions on free speech—compelled a reconsideration of Taiwan’s censorship regime. Still, it remained uncertain whether his sacrifice would catalyse genuine reform. Back then, the prospect that the DPP would end the authoritarian rule of the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT) in a peaceful transition in 2000 was unimaginable, if not entirely unlikely.
Martial law permeated every facet of life, both publicly visible and privately experienced. Taiwan’s archipelagic geography meant that the implementation, enforcement, and eventual lifting of martial law—and its aftermath—were experienced differently by residents of the so called ‘offshore’ islands. Shaped by a series of military strategies aimed at retaking mainland China, these islands became the launch pad of clandestine operations. Positioned on the front lines of the Cold War, their geographical landscapes were extensively militarised through fortification projects, transforming not only the physical environment but also the economic structures and socio-cultural life of local communities (Lin, 2021; Szonyi, 2008).
Forty years on, we can trace how powerful undercurrents in the pivotal year of 1986 began to fracture the seemingly immovable structures of authoritarian rule. This upcoming fortieth anniversary offers a unique, Janus-faced vantage point: one that looks backwards to an authoritarian past and forward towards a democratic future. It invites critical reflection on the enduring legacies of martial law, as well as on how its lifting shaped the development of new identities, political imaginaries, and ways of understanding Taiwan. For the ‘offshore’ islands, questions of whether and how to remove, preserve, or commodify the tangible and intangible legacies of the Cold War remain contested.
Importantly, 1986 should not be viewed merely as a temporal dividing line between political eras. The profound transformations Taiwan would experience in the ensuing decades were, at the time, aspirations rather than certainties. The Domestic Violence Prevention Act, enacted in 1998, made Taiwan the first nation in Asia to enable women to obtain judicial protection orders to safeguard their safety. However, it was not until the #MeToo Movement erupted in 2023 that widespread gender-based violence was thrust into national consciousness, challenging societal norms and prompting legislative revisions. Taiwan aspires to a form of nationhood centred on human rights protection (renquan liguo, 人權立國), a vision first articulated in 2000 and later endorsed by successive administrations. Yet whether this commitment truly extends to migrant spouses, labourers, and all marginalised groups remains uncertain.
This conference seeks to explore this ‘Janus moment’—a period marked by ongoing processes of remembrance, resistance, and reinvention that continue to shape post-martial law Taiwan. From the rise of a vibrant civil society to the emergence of novel forms of artistic expression empowered by newfound freedoms, we aim to examine both the illumination and the shadows that martial law has cast on contemporary Taiwan. In this light, we invite researchers to join us in reassessing the period surrounding the end of martial law. Through interdisciplinary, decolonial and critical lenses, the conference seeks to better understand how Taiwan—especially in today’s context of global authoritarian resurgence—has come to redefine itself from the legacies of autocracy.
Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:
- ∙Emerging and contested historiographies and political geography of Taiwan: epistemology, decoloniality, and the politics of education
- The frontier of the Cold War: ‘offshore’ islands in the Taiwan Strait and borderlands between Thailand and Myanmar
- Rural and remote economies on land and at sea: operators in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, and their relationship with the environment
- Taiwan’s foreign relations: alliances, international memberships and foreign aids that were maintained and lost, and the making and unmaking of Taiwan’s images
- Taiwan and China: legitimacy, identity, ideology, war plans, military operations, and the politics of the “Overseas Chinese”
- Civil-military relations: total war, civil defence, national mobilisation, and the roles of gender and women in the military
- Processes of democratisation, liberalisation, and localisation: political, social, economic, legal, and cultural transformations seen through actors, institutions, industries, strategies, and narratives
- Legal reform: public trust, policing practices, and the regulation of firearms
- Voices from the margins: workers, farmers, women, veterans, Indigenous Peoples, migrants, refugees, disabled people, elderly people, mental health patients, sexual and gender minorities, and their movements
- Everyday legacies of martial law: urban planning, public infrastructure, housing, family planning, food and cuisine, language, journalism, radio, religion, literature, art, theatre, music, film, pop culture, and fashion
