This summer, I'll be working with Professor Patricia Dailey, Jay Gao, Ana Sofia Harrison, Gigi Chen, and Nicole Dao as part of the Trees research project. My work will serve as an individual portion of a greater research project, which is a corroborated network and web of narratives spanning millennia, connecting narratives and histories about trees with the histories of deforestation, literature, environment, colonization, and cultural conversion. Trees draws narratives from around the world, connecting individual projects throughout Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa, with literary resources across various languages and region-specific texts.
Taking part in this project, I'll conduct an individual study of the role of trees, like the camphor, in Taiwan during Japanese occupation. This project is particularly interesting to me because it draws from many of my interdisciplinary interests, including those of international development, environmental studies, and its connections to imperialism and the history of Taiwan.
Research Questions
Through conducting this project, I'll try and answer questions like:
- How did Japanese imperialism from 1895 to 1945 shape the cultural, economic, and environmental landscape of Taiwan and its indigenous communities, and how does that affect the way Taiwan and its indigenous communities approach environmental efforts and outlooks today?
- In what ways do trees function as symbols of cultural development, knowledge production, structure, and genealogy within Taiwanese and indigenous contexts?
- What role does the economic factors of trade, colonial resource extraction, and deforestation play into this narrative? How has it affected modern Taiwanese attitudes toward environmentalism and resource use?
- What do indigenous stories and historical narratives reveal about the role of arboreal figures in resisting or adapting to colonial occupation?
Objectives
I'm aiming to investigate investigate the cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of Japanese imperialism on the history of Taiwan and its indigenous tribes, particularly through the lens of arboreal history, structure, and development. I’m also aiming to interact with and translate indigenous texts, as well as modern environmental literature texts, and moreover speaking with local experts in the field through in-person and online interview.
By the end of the project, I have a few output goals. I plan to contribute to the Thinking Treely book project, with corroborates many of the global and historical narratives found from the project. I also plan to produce a 6-8 page research paper by the end of this year’s 6-week research session, and present that research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium in fall 2026.
Methodology
To conduct this project, I plan to locate, translate, and read Taiwanese and Chinese literature centered around indigenous stories and historical narratives of Japanese imperialism, and also study their impacts on the way people approach environmentalism and resource extraction both as an immediate result of colonial intervention and resulting modern sentiments.
Prior to conducting research, I also plan to examine and review relevant environmental literature and tree-focused stories to frame my prior understanding of the field. In working with my research team, I'll also contribute in creating a group calendar with relevant events to attend that are related to my research field, or guide their understanding of how to organize information or conduct research in general. After reviewing these materials, I'll begin outlining my research project, and compiling a list of specific readings and sources to present to the group.
During my research, I'll use those readings as guiding resources to answer their proposed questions, and map out a historical timeline and study to understand the relevant arboreal elements that exist in relation to the greater social and cultural contexts that they find. I plan to will regularly meet with Professor Dailey and other research peers to review updates on our individual projects, ask questions and advice, and also assist in planning other ongoing research outputs. I also plan to assist and collaborate with other researchers in the project, and contact experts for interviews.