Continuity or Change: Modern Nursing Knowledge Formation in Taiwan

• In Event: Historical (In)Sensibilities I: Historicizing STS Methods

Abstract

Historical appraisal of nursing may be characterized to be the progressive professionalization in Taiwan after WWII when international aids, such as UN and American Bureau for Medical Advancements in China (ABMAC), provided for nursing education. The emphases on scientific quality, modernity and biomedical advancement have been addressed in order to battle with resurged numerous infectious diseases such as cholera, malaria, diphtheria after WWII as compared to the period of Japanese occupation of Taiwan during 1895-1945. While modern biomedical oriented nursing disciplinary knowledge has been framed as cutting edge scientific advancement with cultural meaning, little is concerned about the temporal and spatial transitions of organizations and individual professionals on nurses and nursing practice in Taiwan. This paper explores how nursing identities shaped by the cultural tensions between nurses and their patients and among nurses with various preparation backgrounds during 1945-1975. Specifically, the influence of International organizations and consultants on Taiwanese nurses and nursing will be ascertained. The study of institutional and personal movement in the past facilitates the understanding of professional identity of present nursing. Archival records from ABMAC at the Columbia University, Rockefeller Archive Center as well as Taiwan Historica have been used. In addition, oral history from nurses who practiced during 1945-1975 has been collected. The postcolonial approach of this research enhances the analysis of gender and class discussion in nursing knowledge transformation.

Author

• Zxy-Yann Lu, Zxyyann Jane Lu