by Scott Simon
First published 2018
Scott Simon examines how people in Taiwan's southern leather tanning districts navigate questions of cultural belonging. For four decades under martial law, the Chinese Nationalist Party promoted Chinese identity through campaigns that penetrated families, schools, and workplaces. Officials claimed that Chinese culture and effective governance created Taiwan's economic boom. Simon uses life history interviews and direct observation to show how residents of tanning communities have challenged these assertions since democratization began. He follows the perspectives of tanners, female managers, and laborers to reveal how cultural identities form through power relations and economic forces. The book traces animal hides from American sources to Taiwanese tanneries, then to factories producing shoes and leather goods, and finally back to US consumers. This global supply chain illustrates concrete connections between American buyers and Taiwanese workers. Simon grounds abstract concepts like national identity and global integration in personal stories and workplace details from the tanning industry.
Genres: sociology, anthropology, non-fiction, cultural, academic, cultural-studies
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: economic-forces, power-relations
Setting: Taiwan, United States
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
192 pages · Kindle Edition · Routledge