The variation of memories: A Historical Survey of the Memorial Spaces in “Green Island the Prison Island”

• Main Authors: Ruei-Ci Chen, 陳瑞琪
• Other Authors: Tsung-Yi Pan
• Format: Others
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/8zdx38

碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 歷史學系 === 105 === Whereas the historical scholarship on the White Terror in Taiwan mostly focuses on doing oral interviews with the family members of political victims , the interpretation of the political conjuncture at the time, and or the discussion on the controversial issues regarding transitional justice , only very few of them touches upon the subject matter from the perspective of space politics. A historical survey of the memorial spaces in Green Island the Prison Island from the perspectives of the politics of constructing memorial spaces and the “variation” of collective memories of the White Terror centered around those spaces in the Green Island Human Rights Culture Park will reveal novel and valuable insights.. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to make contribution to the historical studies of the White Terror in Taiwan by exploring the on-going changing, multiple significance of the memorial spaces in the Green Island Human Rights Culture Park from the point of view of the dialectical relationship between memorial space and memory making. In doing so, this thesis will demonstrate the “variation” of the collective memories of the White Terror belonged to the diverse social groups such as the political dissidents, the military guards, and the residents in the Green Island. As a result, through the lens of multiple understanding of the memorial spaces in the Green Island Human Rights Culture Park and the island as a whole, this thesis is helpful for the people in Taiwan and the world to understand the changing, diversifying meanings of the memorial spaces under consideration in order to closely and deeply look into how the tears of the political victims in the White Terror period and the sweat of the people in post-war Taiwan together composed the variation of the historical memories of the time behind the simplified image of Green Island as represented in the song “Green Island Serenade.” 　　Based on the purpose mentioned above, this thesis first offers a historical survey of the Green Island as a prison island from the period of Japanese colonization to the time of the ROC government by the first decade of the twentieth-first century. Next, it moves to discuss such issues as place naming, spatial boundary, and administration related to the founding of the Green Island Human Rights Parks in the wake of the establishment of the Preparative Office of the National Human Rights Museum. Then, it turns to examine the diverse meanings of the memorial spaces in the Green Island Human Rights Culture Park and the multiple memories centered around those spaces by analyzing the oral interviews of the political dissidents, the military guards, and the residents of Green Island. Finally, by applying for the theoretical concepts such as space and identity as well as the production of space on its analysis, this thesis intends to demonstrate the various factors of official authority, social groups, and civic community behind the making of memorial spaces and their variation of historical memories under the larger context of political changes in post-war Taiwan.