Multicultural History in a Multicultural Taiwan

Chapter 2 focuses on the National Museum of Taiwan History (國立台灣歷史博物館‎) opened in 2011 in the city of Tainan. The first in Taiwan dedicated to telling the story of Taiwan’s development into nationhood, the museum centers its narrative around the tropes of inclusiveness, ethnic diversity, immigration, and political pluralism. In the process, it avoids the excesses of a more radical Taiwanese nativism and presents a “consensus” view of the history of the island that de-emphasizes historical traumas, such as inter-ethnic conflict, the horrendous treatment of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, and the February 28 Incident.