I just spent four days with a group of Taiwan-based anthropologists in Budai, a coastal township in Chiayi County. We were there for a writing camp organized by Eric Siu-kei Cheng, a professor at National Taitung University and the president of the Taiwan Society for Anthropology and Ethnology. Like me, Eric is also from Hong Kong! I hadn’t realized until the day I arrived that each of us was expected to write a chapter for a book volume on world anthropologies. It was a surprise, though a pleasant one.
To me, the writing camp was more than just a writing camp. I had returned to Taiwan less than a month earlier to start an academic position; I was still adjusting to an unfamiliar research culture and had yet to become part of a scholarly community. The writing camp was a great opportunity to meet other anthropologists and learn from their experiences conducting research in Taiwan and beyond.
Heavy rain flooded Budai during my stay, and I don’t remember seeing the sun on any of those days. But the cool people I met made being stuck indoors quite okay.
Ting-Fai Yu 余庭煇 