社群媒體上台灣青年穆斯林的認同展演 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 碩士論文 Master’s Thesis. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 社群媒體上台灣青年穆斯林的認同展演. Nat. y. Identity and Online Performance of Young Taiwanese Muslims. n. er. io. al. sit. on Facebook. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Student: Ying-chih Wang 王穎芝 Advisor: Professor Ting-yu Kang 康庭瑜教授中華民國 106 年 12 月 Dec. 2017.

(2) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(3) Acknowledgement Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Professor Tin-Yu Kang for her continuous support and insightful guidance during the four years of study at IMICS and my research process. She consistently steered me in the right direction and examined my work in every detail with generous patience.. I would also like to offer my appreciation to my committees, Professor Liang-Wen Kuo and Professor Tsung-Jen Shih, for their effort and valuable advices which helped me refine this research.. 政治大 shared their precious experience 立 and opinion during the interviews.. Also, I would like to thank the interviewees in this research, who have willingly. ‧ 國. 學. I must express my very profound appreciation to my roommates, schoolmates and loved ones for constantly providing me with continuous encouragement throughout. ‧. these tears and the process of writing this thesis.. sit. y. Nat. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents and family for supporting me. io. n. al. er. spiritually throughout my life. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Thank you.. Ch. engchi. i. i n U. v.

(4) Abstract This study analyzes how Taiwanese Muslims construct and negotiate their identity through impression management on social network sites (SNSs). The findings demonstrate that their impression management on SNSs serves as a response, if not resistance, to the preexisting power structure underlying the global circulation of knowledge on religion and ethnicity. First, this study demonstrates that they have developed a uniquely local identity of being Taiwanese Muslim, combining the religious identity and Taiwanese citizenship. Secondly, this study illustrates Taiwanese Muslims’ strategies of impression management on Facebook. By applying the dramaturgical approach, this study explores how Taiwanese Muslims present. 政治大 perceived in the society. They 立 believe Taiwanese users on Facebook have superficial appropriate impressions as a response to the ways in which Muslims and Islam are. understanding about Muslim and Islam but the society’s negative stereotypes are only. ‧ 國. 學. against Middle-eastern Muslims. Therefore, they develop three main strategies of identity expression: 1) deliberating sources of correct information about Muslim; 2). ‧. highlighting the ‘ordinariness’ of Muslim people; 3) presenting a highly disciplined. y. Nat. self. Faced with the challenge of context collapse on SNSs, some of the Taiwanese. io. sit. Muslims developed managing skills and learned to segregate audience by applying. n. al. er. custom friend list, tagging review functions and even creating new pages to maintain. i n U. the confines between their own stages and other performers.. Ch. engchi. v. Keyword: Taiwanese Muslims, identity performance, impression management, Social Networking Sites, Facebook, context collapse. ii.

(5) 摘要本文旨在探討台灣地區僅占 0.3%人口的漢語穆斯林身份認同，並剖析影響青年. 穆斯林在社群網站上的展演行動之社會認知、隱私與科技功能等因素。本研究以半結構式訪談訪問 11 位介於 20 至 40 歲青年穆斯林，發現受訪者一致發展出「信仰伊斯蘭教的台灣公民」之身份認同。第二部分運用高夫曼劇場理論之形象管理概念，分析台灣穆斯林在 Facebook 的展演策略。針對社會中的非穆斯林觀眾，. 受訪者認為台灣大眾對伊斯蘭教一知半解，不若西方「伊斯蘭恐懼症」現象嚴重，負面印象也僅限於中東穆斯林；台灣多元宗教與族群之社會形態也有利於展演宗教認同。為符合前述脈絡，台灣穆斯林主要發展出三種形像展演的策略：1. 提. 政治大分享有關穆斯林之新聞報章資訊，也善於運用相片、影片、打卡等視覺元素吸引立供穆斯林知識之正確來源 2. 信仰伊斯蘭的「常人」3. 行為自律者。受訪者傾向非穆斯林關注。此外，有鑒於社群網站「情境崩解」之現象頻繁，受訪者也習得. ‧ 國. 學. 分群、標籤審查甚至另開粉絲專頁等方式，在穆斯林與非穆斯林觀眾間維護不同的展演形象。宗教中的性別規範亦是影響台灣穆斯林展演策略的重要因子。. ‧ y. Nat. io. sit. 關鍵字：台灣穆斯林、穆斯林、身份認同、展演、劇場理論、形象管理、社群網. n. al. er. 站、Facebook、情境崩解. Ch. engchi. iii. i n U. v.

(6) Table of Contents Ch1 Introduction……………………...……………………………………………...1 1.1 Research Background.........................................................................................1. 1.2 Research Framework….………………………………………….......................3 1.3 Research Questions…….……………………………………………………….4 Ch2 Literature Review………………………………………………….....................6 2.1 The Emergence of the Taiwanese Muslim Identity………..................................6 2.1.1 From China to Taiwan: the Historical Background………………………...6. 政治大. 2.1.2 The Identity of Taiwanese Muslims….……….….………………………...9. 立. 2.2 Theoretical Background: Dramaturgical Approach…..….................................13. ‧ 國. 學. 2.2.1 The Presentation of the Self and Social Network Sites…...........................14 2.2.2 Identity Performance of Minority Groups and Social Network. ‧. Sites…………………………………………………..…………………..18. y. Nat. sit. 2.2.3 Impression Management and the Functions of Social Network. n. al. er. io. Sites……….………...................................................................................23. i n U. v. Ch3 Research Methods………………………………………………….………….29. Ch. engchi. 3.1 Data Collection……..………………………………………………………….29 3.2 Sampling……..…………………………………………….……………….....32 Ch4. The Self-identity of Young Taiwanese Muslims and Their Audiences in Taiwanese Mainstream Society………………………………..…………………...34 4.1 The Hybrid Identity of being a Taiwanese Muslim…………………..………..34 4.2 The Audience of Taiwanese Mainstream Society…………..…………………37 4.2.1 Associating Negative impressions With Foreign Muslims.………………38 4.2.2 Lack of Adequate Information on Taiwanese Muslims and the Islamic religion..…………………………………………….……………40 iv.

(7) 4.2.3 Religious Pluralism in Taiwan……………………………………………45 4.2.4 No Religious, Political or Social Confrontation between Taiwanese Muslims and Other Members of Society……………….…….46 4.3 Summary………………………………………………………….………...48 Ch5. Impression Management in the Identity Performance of Taiwanese Muslims………………………………………………………………………...50 5.1 Enriching Sources and Correcting Information about Islam and Muslims………………………………………………………………………..51. 治政大Religion All 5.2.1 Non-fanatical Muslims Who Don’t Talk About 立. 5.2 We Are “Ordinary” People Who Believe in Islam…………………………….54. The Time…………………………………………………………………55. ‧ 國. 學. 5.2.2 Being Open to Discussion When People Ask About Islam……………….57. ‧. 5.3 A Self-disciplined Person……………………………………….......................60. sit. y. Nat. 5.4 Summary……………………………………………………………………....62. io. er. Ch6 Usage of Facebook Functions for Impression Management by Young. al. Taiwanese Muslims………………………………………………………….....64. n. v i n CFunctions 6.1 Interactive Communication of Performing the h e n gascTools hi U. Self…………………………………………………………………………….65 6.1.1 Sharing Third-party Produced Content…………………….……………..65 6.1.2 The Functions of Photos, Videos and Check-ins at Events………………67 6.1.3 Other functions: name, profile pictures and descriptions on profile……………………………………………………………………69 6.1.4 The function of comments and context collapse…………………………70 6.2 Audience Segregation: Facebook privacy functions as tools for managing the confines of stages………………………………………………73. v.

(8) 6.2.1 “Who should see this?” Custom friend lists………………………………73 6.2.2 Tag review and involuntary performance: preventive practice for protecting the confine of stage………………………………………..78 6.3 Pages and groups: new stage, new performance………………………………81 6.4 Summary………………………………………………………………………85 Ch7 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..88 7.1 Discussion………………………………………………………......................88 7.2 Limitations and future research………………………………………………..91. 治政大 Applendix…………………………………………………………………………...104 立 Reference & Bibilography…………………………………………………………...93. Appendix 1: List of Interview Questions…………………………………………...104. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. vi. i n U. v.

(9) Ch1 Introduction. 1.1 Research Background. According to Oxford Dictionaries Online, the definition of Islamophobia is the “dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force” (May 20, 2017). While not a completely new concept for the Western societies, the. 政治大. term—and the phenomenon it refers to—have become globally widespread in the past. 立. decade since September 11th, 2001 (Sheridan, 2006). Rooted in Muslim-West. ‧ 國. 學. relations and conflicts dating back 1400 years, Western mass media has typically. ‧. characterized Muslims as radical, intolerant fundamentalists who repressing women. sit. y. Nat. (Hafez, 2000). Biased media coverage has generated negative stereotypes against. io. n. al. er. Muslims and the Islamic religion and has hugely influenced the public perception of. i n U. v. Muslims (Hafez, 2000; Shuriye et al, 2013). The impact is enormous not only for. Ch. engchi. people in Muslim-majority countries but also for Muslim minorities within Western countries. As a result of constant misrepresentation and dehumanization, Muslims are found to have been incentivized to become devoted to Internet activities and activism (Bunt, 2003) in order to resist the mass media and to change peoples’ perception of Muslims and Islam. The Internet has been considered one of the most useful tools through which minority groups can enhance internal solidarity, express personal and collective identity (Correa, T. and Jeong, S.H. 2011), and create public spheres that guarantee engagement in dialogue with the majority of society (Huang, 2002). 1.

(10) The phenomenon of Islamophobia and subsequent resistance activities of Muslims, however, do not only occur in Western countries. In Taiwan, international news coverage is mostly derived from English-dominant international media such as CNN, BBC and so on. Since the mass media in Taiwan continues to replicate the negative stereotypes against Muslims and Islam from Western perspectives, Muslims in Taiwan seem to also have been incentivized to stand up to the unfavorable situation. During. 政治大. my undergraduate study in Arabic language and culture, I have had the chance to. 立. befriend some Taiwanese Muslims whose population only account for 0.3% of the. ‧ 國. 學. total population in Taiwan. They always appeared to be enthusiastic in explaining and. ‧. clarifying the nature of their religion whenever terrorist attacks conducted by Muslim. sit. y. Nat. extremists were reported in international news. They organized student clubs of. io. n. al. er. Islamic culture together with foreign Muslim students from universities across Taiwan,. i n U. v. held exhibitions and lectures to introduce Muslims and Islam in schools, and, most. Ch. engchi. importantly, actively shared knowledge about Islam on an individual and personal basis on Facebook, the most popular SNS in Taiwan. It was apparent that Taiwanese Muslims feel the obligation to resist mass media misrepresentation through online activism, just as Muslim minorities in the West have been observed to do (Shuriye at al, 2013).. It may be difficult, however, for Taiwanese Muslims to formulate strategies for self-presentation and impression management. Taiwanese Muslims as a social group 2.

(11) have access to little visibility in Taiwanese society. Unlike African Americans or the Muslim minorities of the West whose issues have been highlighted by many advocates over the decades, the Taiwanese Muslim community is a brand new topic that awaits the discussion of society. Meanwhile, the attitude of the general public towards either Islam or Muslims is far from amicable (Chao, 2004). The social context in Taiwan, which differs from that of the age-old Muslim-West rhetoric, adds yet another layer of interpretation to the phenomenon. Previous researches have. 政治大. examined the formation of community and the current identity of Muslims in Taiwan.. 立. However, there has been little discussion on how Taiwanese Muslims manage to. ‧ 國. 學. represent themselves in the SNS-era. Thus, this study not only takes a closer look at. ‧. the identity formation of Taiwanese Muslims, but also explores online Muslim. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. identity self-presentation on Facebook, one of the largest social network site.. Ch 1.2 Research Framework e. ngchi. i n U. v. The aim of this study is to extend existing studies of Muslim identity in Taiwan to technology-driven Internet studies by focusing on the usage of Facebook, one of the largest SNSs in the world and one that has exerted significant influence over the way people communicate and express their opinions. By applying Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical perspective, I first examine through this study how the younger generations of Muslims in Taiwan perceive their newly formed identity as Taiwanese Muslim in the specific context of both local and global communities. I then explore. 3.

(12) what images of the self that Taiwanese Muslims expect to represent based on their perception; finally, I explore their strategies of self-presentation, otherwise referred to as impression management, on Facebook, and how they perceive and utilize the technological environment and forms of expression available on the Facebook website to achieve their goals.. Goffman’s dramaturgical approach illustrates how people manage to construct ideal images in front of different groups of others. The approach has been greatly. 治政 of Self in Everyday Life 大 in 1959, 立. influential for studies of identity and SNSs. Erving Goffman published his renowned book The Presentation. in which he used. dramaturgical metaphors to portray the nuances of face-to-face social interaction.. ‧ 國. 學. According to his theory, during social contact with others, an individual presents. ‧. different faces in compliance with the requirements of different occasions. Social life. sit. y. Nat. becomes an ensemble of multiple stages where people strive to maintain ideal. io. er. performance for certain audiences using a number of factors to manage the. al. impressions they give. SNSs, unlike traditional mass media or the Internet in earlier. n. v i n C h platforms on which phases, serve as user-centered online e n g c h i U users connect, chat, interact and express themselves as they are the center of their own networks (Papacharissi, 2013). The various functions available on SNSs moreover provide users with the capacity to design the degree of openness of the stage, and to decide who can see their performance, or in Goffman’s terminology, “front stage and back stage” and “audience.” The application of Goffman’s dramaturgical approach in this study may help us gain a better understanding of the motives and actions of self-presentation practiced by Taiwanese Muslims within the technological arena of Facebook.. 4.

(13) 1.3 Research Questions. According to the research background discussed above, the aim of this study is to examine the following topics. First, I examine the identity of Taiwanese Muslims. The Internet has become one of the most influential platforms on which people seek to shape their identity and SNSs further expand its role as a tool for identity presentation. Considering that the expression of identity online can be achieved through diverse. 政治大. forms and actions, the objective of this study is to examine the usage of SNSs for. 立. self-presentation by Taiwanese Muslims, for instance, their intention, efforts and. ‧ 國. 學. adaptation to the communicating environment on SNSs.. ‧. y. sit. io. al. n. 1.. er. this study are:. Nat. In accordance with the above line of inquiry, the research questions I’d like to raise in. i n U. v. What is the identity of Taiwanese Muslims? How is this identity shaped by. Ch. engchi. Taiwan’s local political, cultural and social context and by the global trend of Islamophobia?. 2.. What strategies of self-presentation are practiced by Taiwanese Muslims on Facebook as a response to local and global perceptions of Muslims? How are the architecture and functions provided by Facebook applied to achieve their purposes of impression management?. 5.

(14) Ch2 Literature Review 2.1. The Emergence of the Taiwanese Muslim Identity. In Taiwan, there are around 60,000 Muslims. This does not include the large amount of migrant worker who mainly come from Indonesia. Only one third of Muslims in Taiwan are born into Muslim families; others have converted to Islam because of. 政治大 converted Muslims form the essential components of the local Muslim communities 立. marriage or personal choice (Taipei Grand Mosque, 2015). Born Muslims and. ‧ 國. 學. in Taiwan. According to the doctrines of Islam, people who were born into a Muslim family are naturally Muslim. In general, born Muslims grow up with knowledge of. ‧. Islamic religion while converted Muslims only start to learn about the religion after. y. Nat. er. io. sit. they are attracted to it. However, former studies indicate that the majority of born Muslim in Taiwan has been greatly sinicized. The inhabitation of secular society for. al. n. v i n decades also leads to the lackC ofhunderstanding Islam (Su, 2002; Lin, 2013a、 e n g c h iof U 2013b). Compared with converted Muslims who wishfully embrace the lifestyle and the community that come with Islam, born Muslims do not necessarily live up to religious disciplines in their daily life. Therefore the collective presence of these Muslim is not obvious in Taiwan at all. It was not until recent years that these Muslim communities began identifying themselves as Taiwanese Muslim (Lin, 2013a; Pelletier, 2014) due to the complicated historical context of their immigration process. To discuss the identity of Taiwanese Muslims, it is necessary to give careful 6.

(15) consideration to the historical background of Han-speaking Muslim (漢語穆斯林) communities that can be traced back to China.. 2.1.1 From China to Taiwan: the Historical Background. Throughout the course of history, Han-speaking Muslims have always been allocated ambiguous positions on the map of ethnic identity in China. Since the Tang dynasty in. 政治大. 7th century, Muslims have been traveling to China from the Middle East and central. 立. Asia for commercial and political purposes. They lived in inclusive communities (蕃. ‧ 國. 學. 坊) where all the foreign merchants resided. They were allowed to preserve their. ‧. culture in Chang-an, one of the most international cities of the time. However, no. sit. y. Nat. fully functional Muslim community (Ummah) was formed until the reign of the. io. n. al. er. Mongol Empire. At that time, “colored-eye foreigners” (色目人) occupied the highest. i n U. v. level of social stratification as enforced by Mongolian rulers, a policy that gave. Ch. engchi. foreign Muslims complete liberty to maintain their culture and lifestyle.. Yet, the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty fell apart and China was taken over by Han Chinese again in the 14th century. By that time, Muslims in China had become isolated from the central land of Islam due to the collapse of the Mongol Empire (Pillsbury, 1972). These Muslims had no choice but to keep a low profile and to become integrated with the local community, especially in the face of a series of Han Renaissance policies executed during the Ming Dynasty. Gradually assimilated with 7.

(16) local Han Chinese, these Muslims turned into ethnic minorities referred to as Hui or Han-speaking Muslim, and adopted lifestyles that incorporated both Han culture and Islamic culture. They established mosques, Islamic schools and communities around mosque in many cities through China. Scholars have named the phenomenon “an extensive dispersion with localized concentrations” (大分散小集中) (Lin, 2013b). Islam includes not only religious beliefs and rituals but also overall regulations of personal and communal life. To make sure Muslim communities live in Islamic way,. 政治大. Islamic law (Shar’ia) has to be fully executed. The lack of Islamic theocratic reign in. 立. China has made it impossible for Han-speaking Muslims to learn and practice. ‧ 國. 學. comprehensive Islamic lifestyle. Hence, the existence of their culture only signified. ‧. religion until the era of early modern China (Lin, 2013a).. sit. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. Islam is believed to have first reached Taiwan in the 17th century when Muslim. i n U. v. migrants emigrated from the provinces in southern China. They had lived within. Ch. engchi. non-Muslim communities for hundreds of years and had been assimilated into Han-dominated society. At that moment in time, this group of people had mostly stopped practicing Islam and lost the Muslim identity. Only very little evidence can be found in their ancestor-worship rituals demonstrating that their ancestors were once Muslims (Su, 2012; Lin, 2013a).. During the last few decades of Ch’ing Dynasty, interactions between Muslims living in East Asia with central land of Islam increased. Muslims started to go on Hajj 8.

(17) journeys (朝覲) or to obtain Islamic knowledge from the Middle East. These interactions sparked the Islam revival movement that brought the Islamic culture from Arab-Islamic lands and Osman Turkey Empire back into China and led to waves of uprisings in Muslim communities and conflicts against the Ch’ing government. Following harsh crackdowns by the government, Han-speaking Muslims turned to seek cooperation with the Revolutionists. When Sun Yet-Sen and the Kuomingtang (KMT) government outlined the idea of “Five Peoples of China” (五族共和) under. 政治大. the flag of Great Chinese Nationalism, Muslims who embraced the ideology were. 立. clearly designated as the Hui ethnic group (回族). The distinct boundary of “Hui”. ‧ 國. 學. made these people ethnically different from the Han; the difference in religion was. ‧. also apparent, although less significantly so (Pelletier, 2014). Hence, the revival. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. movement of Islam in China was interrupted again by Chinese Civil War.. i n U. v. After the KMT government lost the civil war and the Chinese Communist Party took. Ch. engchi. over China, large numbers of Muslims fled to Southeast Asia and Taiwan. This was known as the second wave of Muslim immigration to Taiwan. By the end of the Chinese Civil War, around 50,000 Muslims had fled to Taiwan with the KMT government. Many of them were soldiers and government employees who came from different provinces of China where Islam influence is strong, such as Yunnan, Xinjiang, Ningxia, and Gansu (Su, 2002).. 2.1.2 The Identity of Taiwanese Muslims 9.

(18) After their arrival in Taiwan, Han-speaking Muslims settled across a number of different cities. Because of their diasporic background, they did not establish communities around mosques as other Muslim migrants do in other countries (Su, 2002). At that time patriotism throughout Taiwan suppressed all other kinds of divergent identities. In terms of ethnicity, despite their different backgrounds, all immigrants from China were viewed as Mainlanders or waishengren (外省人) as a. 政治大. whole in contrast with benshengren (本省人) and indigenous peoples. This decreased. 立. the ethnic identity of the Hui and enforced the ethnic identity of mainlanders within. ‧ 國. 學. the group. Due to the long period of authoritarian rule and the China-/Han-centered. ‧. education policy, first generation Han-speaking Muslims did not have the chance and. sit. y. Nat. motivation to develop an identity strongly connected to Taiwan. Su (2002) and Lin. io. n. al. er. (2013a, 2013b) pointed out that Muslim associations in Taiwan, at that time,. i n U. v. functioned more as NGOs and institutions for establishing government diplomatic. Ch. engchi. relations with Middle East countries than as religious organizations. As a consequence, the power of these organizations declined when the government changed its foreign policies.. Since the 1970s, highly accelerated economic developments have enabled Taiwan to become a more modernized and westernized society. People drifted away from religion and began leading more secular lives. Although Muslim associations had previously tried to establish connections with Chinese Muslims to trace the root of 10.

(19) their identities when cross-strait interactions increased in frequency and intensity after the lift of martial law in 1987, the young generations of Taiwanese Muslims continue to feel detached from “Mother China” (Lin, 2013a, 2013b). As local Taiwanese consciousness continued to gain momentum, the young generations began attempting to establish a new image of Taiwanese Muslims and forge the new concept of Han-speaking Muslims Ummah (新華人穆斯林社群觀) on many occasions of international visibility.. 政治大 It is worth highlighting the existence of another group of Han-speaking Muslims in 立. ‧ 國. 學. Taiwan. They are the Muslims who moved from China to Myanmar and Thailand during the civil war and began moving back to Taiwan after the 1980s. This. ‧. constitutes the third phase of Muslim immigration to Taiwan. Many of them settled in. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Zhonghe District of New Taipei City, Zhongli of Taoyuan City and some other towns (Yu, 2009). The second and the third waves of Muslim immigration mainly constitute. al. n. v i n the vast majority of the born C Muslim in Taiwan. While they lived in h e ncommunity gchi U. Myanmar and Thailand, their Muslim identity separated them from other Chinese migrants, and they maintained strong Islamic lifestyles as a both religious and ethnic minority that prompted them to build concentrated communities after coming to Taiwan. Yu (2009), Hu& Ma (2011) and Chen (2012) pointed out that these Muslims exhibit the special diasporic identity of the Islamic community rather than ethnic identities like Chinese and Taiwanese. For these Muslims, the nationalism of Myanmar/Thailand or even Taiwan does not constitute their core identity as people. 11.

(20) The gradual consolidation of the Taiwanese identity that has taken shape over the last few decades has exerted significant influence upon the young people on this island. The younger generation pays little attention to the backgrounds of their parents or grandparents nowadays; their identity as Taiwanese is a national identity and is highly related to their birth places rather than ethnic group. Pelletier (2014) found that young Muslims in Taiwan mostly identify themselves as Taiwanese, while the identity of. 政治大 That is to say, among this group, the Muslim identity primarily serves as a religious 立 being Muslims is no longer tied with ethnic groups but with a global religion: Islam.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. identity rather than ethnic one.. Lin (2014) has observed that 2nd and 3rd generation Han-speaking Muslims in Taiwan. y. Nat. er. io. sit. feel more connected to Arab-Islam than to Chinese-Islam. This has led to a shift in identity from being an ethnic minority (Hui) to being a religious minority. He believes. al. n. v i n that this change occurred afterCthe law. The Muslim community in h eliftnofgmartial chi U Taiwan, which was led by the pro-KMT Chinese Muslim Association, became more open to international foreign influences. Han-speaking Muslims in Taiwan today no longer speak about themselves in terms of the Hui people. Instead, they consider themselves as Muslims and a part of a global religion (Pelletier, 2014). Lin (2013a) and others believe that the phenomenon is in part a reaction of Muslims who face obstacles abroad on account of the awkward international circumstances of Taiwan. By studying in Arab-Islamic states or interacting with foreign Muslims, Han-speaking 12.

(21) Muslims in Taiwan have begun developing the localized identity of Taiwanese Muslim. Pelletier then made further research and provided cases evidencing an attempt to express a Taiwanese Muslim identity. By amalgamating the Muslim identity as part of the global Islamic community with the Taiwanese identity as a sense of national belonging, the identity of Taiwanese Muslim is gaining gradual visibility.. 政治大. Taiwanese Muslims, however, still face the obstacle of forming an increasingly. 立. distinctive religious identity that clearly differentiates from other members of society.. ‧ 國. 學. A religious faith that is marginalized makes it harder for Taiwanese Muslims to. ‧. occupy a prominent position in Taiwan’s society. In addition to being the minority,. sit. y. Nat. Taiwanese Muslims face another obstacle—the disintegration of the Islam heritage in. io. n. al. er. Taiwan. The overly small size of the community that leads to the lack of religious. i n U. v. cohesion is the crucial reason (Chen, 2012). Marcia (1989) explained that the. Ch. engchi. presence of identity only exists when healthy cultural identities have developed. That is to say, individuals are only trying to represent themselves as resistance to mainstream society even when they embrace the cultural marks of their community (Grasmuck et al, 2009). In the face of the rapidly changing social and political environment, the question of maintaining cohesion within religious communities has become a significant issue (Su, 2002) on top of the rising need of dialogue between Taiwan’s mainstream society and its Muslim community.. 13.

(22) Therefore, the question that needs to be asked is how the younger generations of Taiwanese Muslims regard their identity that has gradually formulated over the past few decades. If they embrace the new identity of Taiwanese Muslim, how would they present it to the non-Muslim Taiwan society? It is therefore the aim of this study to look into the self-presentation of their identity as Taiwanese Muslims or under any other forms of identities.. 2.2 Theoretical Background: Dramaturgical Approach 治. 立. 政. 大. 2.2.1 The Presentation of the Self and Social Network Sites. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Erving Goffman (1959) developed a series of concepts highlighting the idea that. Nat. sit. y. individuals perform their identity. He used theatrical metaphors to explain how people. n. al. er. io. present an ideal image to others rather than their authentic selves (Hogan, 2010). The. Ch. i n U. v. social life of individuals is considered a stage upon which their every single move. engchi. reflects certain roles or characteristics of the individuals. People who participate in social occasions are the audiences who define the different roles that an individual should play in front of them. That is to say, an individual has to be aware of the gaze from the audience and to present desirable images according to the social conventions s/he observes and deems to be suitable for the audience and the occasion (Bullingham and Vasconcelos, 2013).. Another key concept of Goffman’s theory is that individuals try to maintain consistent 14.

(23) performances in the face of particular audiences within a given period. This continuous presence allows individuals to selectively hide or reveal details. The process is referred to as “impression management.” A performance, otherwise termed “activity” by Goffman, always occurs in specific settings. He used the dramaturgical terms “front stage” and “back stage” to distinguish between the situations where people are expected to present normalized self and occasions where they are not. How to play a role perfectly is defined by the situations, the audiences and other performers. 政治大. in the same team rather than the performer himself alone. All participants of any given. 立. setting help to define what role and personality have to be presented by the. ‧ 國. 學. performers. In order to control the information given during performances, the team. ‧. would carefully select their members and choose to give the performance in front of. er. io. sit. y. Nat. an appropriate audience to make sure that they present ideal images.. According to Goffman’s approach, the presentation of individuals equals their self.. al. n. v i n Cthe Individuals are always observing they are participating in. People ought h eoccasions ngchi U. to be aware of the regulations existing in the situation and to decide on an appropriate role to play. The presentation thus becomes the desired self for both performer and audience. It should be noted that the self isn’t the cause of presentation. On the contrary, the presented self is an outcome of interactions between the performer, the team, and the audience. Performers always act in accordance with the information and impression s/he acquires from other participants of the activity while others also interact with the performer based on the continuous impression s/he gives. People 15.

(24) tend to see the presentation of performers as their real self or the real self of the team.. The dramaturgical approach is considered a useful perspective for understanding online self-presentation (Hogan, 2010) even though the original approach applies to interpersonal communication. Although technology-mediated communication such as conversation via telephone can be a stage upon which performers can listen to each other’s responses, the interactive process provides little room for hiding or revealing. 政治大 including the way we communicate with each other; the new technology furthermore 立 detailed information of the self. The advent of the Internet has changed everything,. ‧ 國. 學. allows us to transcend time-space boundaries. Today, the frequency that communication occurs on the Internet may be no less than that of face-to-face. ‧. communication. The stage of presentation has also expanded from daily life. y. Nat. er. io. sit. interaction to online space. In the WEB2.0 online environment, individuals are allowed to interact using virtual identities through which they are able to present. al. n. v i n C hOnline identities have themselves as whoever they want. e n g c h i U generally been considered as pseudo or half-truth, but the interactions and the new relationships among masked users are real and are certainly influencing how users think and behave (Jiang, 2010). Early studies of online identities were mostly focused on identity presentation in anonymous environment such as chatrooms and Bulletin Boards. In these scenarios, people perform roles that are detached from the real self and manage to build different characters and identities that are consistent with the parts of the self not desirable in offline stages (Huang 2002; Hsueh 2001). Grasmuck, Martin & Zhao (2009) also 16.

(25) found that people are more likely to reveal their hidden negative personalities in anonymous settings.. However, the online world also has drastically shifted from anonymous environment to more nonymous ones due to the prevalence of social network sites (SNSs). As defined by Boyd (2006), SNSs are online website systems on which individuals are allowed to (1) create personal profiles that are public or semi-public in a certain. 政治大. format, (2) establish lists of other users that the individuals share social connections. 立. with, and (3) browse other users’ profiles and lists of connections within the systems.. ‧ 國. 學. While several terms in the public sphere refer to the same systems, Boyd and Ellison. ‧. (2007) specifically choose network instead of networking or other terms to describe. sit. y. Nat. the system. They indicated that the term networking puts emphasis on new. io. n. al. er. relationships between strangers while the systems mostly enable individuals to. i n U. v. navigate previously existing social networks, i.e., users mainly use SNSs to. Ch. engchi. communicate with family, friends and acquaintances they already know in real-world social networks. For instance, Facebook started within the Harvard University as an extra platform in the offline social life of its students. Every early-stage user had to register with their Harvard email address so that they are confirmed to be a Harvard student or alumni. With full assurance of user identity, early users did not need to worry about safety when revealing their real names on the system (Shafie, Nayan & Osman, 2012). This makes the SNSs a platform on which we have to present images that are at least consistent with the self in offline life. Although new users are more 17.

(26) likely to use pseudo name as Facebook gradually acquired greater popularity, there are other popular SNSs that do not require users to show their real names, such as Twitter, instagram and many others; most users, however, usually still befriend people they already know in the offline world in the initial stages of using a SNS (Boyd, 2012).. Thus, individuals are no longer able to create various new identities in the world of. 政治大. SNSs. People are now finding that, even on SNSs, they face people they already know. 立. offline and are obliged to give performances to family, friends, colleagues and. ‧ 國. 學. acquaintances. As noted by Boyd (2008), the default structure of SNSs usually. ‧. assumes that individuals are at the center of the public stage and that every piece of. sit. y. Nat. content they produce is for the purpose of conveying messages to members of the. io. n. al. er. public within their networks. As a result, the social boundaries bound to physical. i n U. v. world disappear on SNSs. The overlapping of audiences, termed as “context collapse,”. Ch. engchi. and the obscurity between front stage and back stage leading to increasing tensions for SNSs users (Binder, Howes & Sutcliffe, 2009) because users are unable to decide upon the most appropriate form of performance to present in front of so many different groups of audiences.. 2.2.2 Identity Performance of Minority Groups and Social Network Sites. Many early studies viewed the Internet as a virtual world in which individuals’ spatial, 18.

(27) social and physical features can be mostly filtered out (Reynolds & Greenfield, 2004; Chang and Tsuen, 2012). This utopian advantage seemed to make the Internet the “voice of the voiceless” through which minority groups are allowed to articulate their differences with safety (Bunt, 2000; Youssef, 2013). Yet, previous studies have also identified that SNSs are often designed to connect the personal networks of users. It is common for users on SNSs to be divided into groups according to offline networks that already exist, for example, alumni from the same university, residents who live in. 政治大. the same neighborhood, or colleagues who work in the same industries (Boyd and. 立. Ellison, 2007). Grasmuck et al. (2009) also pointed out social networks on Facebook. ‧ 國. 學. are mostly linked to the real-life community of users. While the nonymous setting of. ‧. SNSs is reflective of offline social relationships, the online performance of identity. sit. y. Nat. anchors social structures and even the broader social hierarchy in which individuals. io. n. al. er. live. Therefore, Goffman’s ideas of impression management, which suggest that. i n U. v. people always manage to act out ideal images in front of others in face-to-face. Ch. engchi. communication, seem to revive and regain significance in the self-presentation of minorities within the identifiable environments of SNSs.. Impression management on SNSs not only involves the self- presentation of individuals but also relate to the collective endeavors of groups that users belong to (Litt et al, 2014). As Goffman suggested, our ideal self is often influenced by the social group to which we belong. Members of a community who have identified themselves as part of a social group often share common cultural marks and values 19.

(28) (Stets & Burke, 2000; Shafie et al, 2012). While individuals perform themselves in front of group members, they are also exchanging and reproducing the similar marks that make them feel tied to each other (Pearson, 2009). In their studies on the ethnic and racial identity presentation of college students on Facebook, Grasmuck et al (2009) found that students of racial minorities who are African American, Latino American, and Indian American love to present the cultural features of their own ethno-racial community through profiles, photos and personal interests such as movie. 政治大. or literature preferences. They also tend to upload photos of social occasions. 立. intensively. Scholars see the phenomenon as a form of empowerment, one that. ‧ 國. 學. emphasizes the connection of individual strengths therefore competing with broader. ‧. society. The usage habit of SNSs may also be replicated across the individual. sit. y. Nat. networks of group members. Correa and Jeong (2011) have furthermore found that. io. n. al. er. users of minority groups in the US tend to express their thoughts and feelings on. i n U. v. SNSs more than for the purpose of maintaining contact with their friends. However,. Ch. engchi. different groups of people tend to express their thoughts in different ways. Correa and Jeong indicated that while Asian students like to consider SNS a personal diary with which to record their life and wish for little feedback, African Americans are more active in presenting their cultures to the world.. The system of SNSs provides users with online spheres on which we can not only create images in the way we want others to perceive ourselves (Cunningham, 2012) but also to negotiate our social positions with the majority and other social groups. 20.

(29) Schuschke (2015) stated that African American students are “applying SNSs to counter-hegemonic narratives and discriminatory social structures” (p.77) that had previously stereotyped them as the inferior race. Compared to white people, African Americans have been found to pay much more attention to civic and political activities online (Harp et al, 2010). The Egyptian Coptic Christians, especially after the 2011 Egyptian revolution that drove the country to become a more religious Islamic society, are also utilizing websites and Facebook to facilitate more interaction. 政治大. with their target audiences and to gain more significant roles in framing issues of. 立. citizen and integration (Yousef, 2013).. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. As the main subjects of this study, Muslims all over the world have found. sit. y. Nat. opportunities on SNSs to express their opinions on identity, religion, and culture as. io. n. al. er. much as has other minorities. Al-Rawi (2016) concluded that SNSs like Twitter,. i n U. v. Facebook and YouTube are considered to be “alternative media channels” (p. 26) for. Ch. engchi. Muslims as a platform for both self-expression and public dialogue. Shuriye, et al (2013) are of the view that the communicative movement that to disseminate information brought about by Muslims is underway to changing the way Arabs/Muslims and the West perceive each other. Leurs, et al (2012) found that Moroccan-Dutch adolescents are devoted to debates about the meaning of multiculturalism in the Netherlands by providing their narratives to reframe the homogeneous and negative images of Moroccan Muslims in mainstream media through online message boards and SNSs. Even within Muslim groups, individuals 21.

(30) are likely to present a diversity of images to alter the homogenous impression of themselves in the perception and imagination of others. Piela (2010) showed how three British Muslim women consciously challenged the biased representation of Muslim women by continuously constructing direct, powerful but interesting images of religious identity. They received positive feedback from the audiences on their self-presentation. She also disclosed (2017) how a Muslim woman in Scotland who wears niqab, a face-covering cloth that Muslim women wear in public areas, used a. 政治大. photo-sharing SNS to present herself and to negotiate the role of niqab in Muslim. 立. women’s lives even as these women were essentially excluded from intense public. ‧ 國. 學. debate and not allowed to voice their opinions. Beta (2014) also found that young. ‧. Indonesian women are applying different forms of new media, including blogs and. sit. y. Nat. SNSs, to shape a new type of urban Muslim identity as “Hijaber”, representing a. io. n. al. er. “‘fun’ and a ’colorful’ take on lslam.”(p.377). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Nevertheless, when minority groups present themselves to various groups of audiences, they face many more possibilities as well as risks that negative stereotypes harbored by the majority of society may enhance on SNSs under the challenge of context collapse (Duguay, 2016). Vitak (2012) address that SNSs encourage more one-to-many communication than interaction between individuals. The audiences from many social contexts have consistently become overlapping. Users feel threatened by context collapse because they are uncertain who is going to see their performance. The more social groups an individual belongs to, the greater the chance 22.

(31) s/he feels more anxious because s/he has more different kinds of desired self to present (Litt et al 2014).. When confronted with the challenge, individuals within different social contexts tend to apply different strategies to avoid collapsing. For example, both whites and Asians in the U.S. express awareness of the uncontrollable nature of the online environment. When hostile interactions taking place online, however, whites are driven away from. 政治大. certain public spaces while Asians tend to stay but lower the level of publicity of their. 立. posts (Correa and Joeng, 2010). Focusing on the issue of context collapse among the. ‧ 國. 學. SNS performance strategies of stigmatized LGBTQ users, Duguay (2016) pointed out. ‧. that LGBTQ users in the UK developed the tactic to “tailor their identity expressions”. sit. y. Nat. (p899) on Facebook to avoid being outed or questioned by homophobic people who. io. n. al. er. can see their posts. When posting their thoughts on sexual identity, they tend to post. i n U. v. ambiguous and encoded messages assuming that the message would remain. Ch. engchi. unrecognizable to the untargeted audience.. In addition, the categorization between minority and majority may not be sufficient to illustrate the complicated context among different social groups and their identity performance. Other social identities such as younger generations can be key factors that greatly influencing their religious or ethnic identity because young people tend to seek better positions within their societies (Yousef, 2013). Siibak (2009) indicated that it is crucial that people are aware of the fact that standards of the desirable self 23.

(32) come from others on a continuous basis. Especially in the case of gender, the norms and values of how girls should appear are acutely perceived and rapidly adopted by girls when it comes to the selection of photos uploaded. In other words, favorable images can only be produced or presented when individuals are conscious of what others are expecting from them.. Following this line of inquiry, this present research seeks to examine Taiwanese. 政治大. Muslims’ presentation of identity on SNSs. Considering the global context of thriving. 立. Islamphobia and the relatively low visibility of Taiwanese Muslims in Taiwan society,. ‧ 國. 學. what would be their impression management strategy if self-presentation were. ‧. anchored upon their social situations in real life?. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. Sites. sit. 2.2.3 Impression Management and the Functions of Social Network. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Previous studies that apply impression management to self-presentation on SNSs mainly refer to two aspects. The first aspect is the visible elements of self-presentation, including texts, images and so on (Siibak, 2009; Pearson, 2010). The second aspect focuses on the management of audiences and peoples’ access to performances (Aspling, 2011). In both aspects, technological architecture as tools has decisive roles in the form and strategies for managing performances (van Dijck, 2013). Users adjust their behavior to find the best way of performing on the architecture of SNSs and are. 24.

(33) therefore able to derive benefits from participation (Vitak, 2012; Duguay, 2016). On the other hand, the users who have better understanding of SNSs’ architectures and functions are more likely to feel anxious because they realize how much damage the context collapse brought by SNSs can incur upon their images. They are also the ones that know how to remove or decrease the extent of collapse as quickly as possible because of their ability to manage the SNSs system (Litt et al, 2014).. 政治大. According to Boyd & Ellison (2007), SNSs generally consist of similar functions,. 立. including a personal profile to display who you are, a list of connections (“friends”). ‧ 國. 學. that show user networks, and a mechanism that allows users to leave public messages. ‧. and private messages. Despite the similarity of common functions above, SNSs vary. sit. y. Nat. greatly in their featured or targeted user base. Some SNSs are designed for certain. io. n. al. er. social purposes; for example, LinkedIn is designed for professional self-promotion. i n U. v. (van Dijck, 2013), while TripAdvisor features the sharing of traveling experiences as. Ch. engchi. part of its core services (Amaral et al, 2014). Some SNSs can be distinguished by the forms of media in which they are manifested; for example, Instagram is particularly designed for photo-sharing while Vine is for self-made short videos. Facebook and Twitter, on the other hand, have been described as masspersonal media that combines all sorts of broadcast media and interpersonal communication (Marwick& Boyd, 2011; Buehler, 2014).. The details of identity performance are products of the affordance of different 25.

(34) technological functions on each SNS. Individuals are able to select what personal details, profile photos and status updates they upload onto SNSs. Through these elements, individuals construct their self-image in front of their friends either consciously or unconsciously. Users adjust their behavior to find the best way of performing on the architecture of SNSs and are therefore able to derive benefits from participation (Tufekci, 2008). Sharing information and knowledge on SNSs can be considered both ideal behavior from the cultural aspect (Din& Haronb, 2012), and a. 政治大. vague way to suggest the possible disclosure of LGBTQ identity (Duguay, 2016).. 立. While the term “self-presentation” is often assumed to be the process carried out by. ‧ 國. 學. individuals to control other peoples’ impressions of them, other users collectively. ‧. participate in the identity performance by contributing photos, comments, likes, and. sit. y. Nat. tags as well. Other users’ posts help form the self-presentation of individuals and at. io. n. al. er. times exert greater influences than one’s own posts (Litt et al, 2014). This highlights. i n U. v. the importance of controlling the audience and access to the performance through the. Ch. engchi. same architecture of SNSs that leads to context collapse, which is the other primary aspect of studies on impression management on SNSs.. In his study examining self-presentation on Facebook through the dramaturgical approach, Elder-Jubelin (2009) suggested that researchers need to focus on concepts of context collapse by paying attention to three areas that all influence the performance of individuals: self-presentation on Facebook; analysis of audiences and relationships on Facebook; and the technological structure of Facebook as a 26.

(35) conceptual space. While the first two areas can be seen as the performance itself and the interaction between performer and audience, the third area echoes other research claiming that the affordance of SNSs architecture is a distinctly important factor of impression management. Boyd (2012) has indicated that while early Facebook users were comfortable using their real names, nowadays users are no longer willing to disclose their real name easily because they are afraid that others are able to obtain their personal information by inputting their real names into search engines.. 政治大. Meanwhile, users using nicknames or pseudonyms are also decreasing other users’. 立. ability to control their social contexts (Boyd, 2012; Shafie et al, 2012). Fox and. ‧ 國. 學. Warber (2015) indicated that LGBTQ users apply Facebook’s affordance to reshape. ‧. context. For example, they decide who can access their content by adjusting their. sit. y. Nat. strategies for friending, unfriending and blocking users. These functions allow users. io. n. al. er. to have more control over the constitution of their audience. Duguay (2016) indicated. i n U. v. that her LGBTQ participants strategically segregated audiences to avoid context. Ch. engchi. collapsing and reconstructed contexts by making friend lists and choosing to present their sexual identity performance only to friends that they have disclosed their identity to. They have also made the best of different technological features on SNSs for establishing boundaries of context. For example, they may register an account on Twitter using real names to follow LGBTQ-themed accounts. By completely leaving the context of Facebook, they segregate audiences across different SNSs. Mishra and Surhita (2014) found that young Indian Muslim women make strategic choices to present themselves in accordance with gendered expectations in their cultural and 27.

(36) religious norms on SNSs while simultaneously creating secret spaces for personal expression by segregating audiences with the privacy settings offered by SNSs.. However, it should be duly remarked that users are easily frustrated by the labyrinth of privacy settings on SNSs. Previous researchers have found that using privacy settings to segregate audience requires users greater investment in terms of both time and knowledge. When faced with the task to apply such skills, users tend to choose to. 政治大. only post content that they feel comfortable sharing with all of their audiences.. 立. (Hogan, 2010;Vitak, 2012; Duguay,2016).. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. Based on Goffman’s framework, Hogan (2010) argued that the world in social media. sit. y. Nat. is not merely a stage but also a participatory exhibit. Individuals upload data (artifacts,. io. n. al. er. named by Hogan) to show themselves to each other. Instant interaction with people is. i n U. v. no longer the main activity on SNS, one that enables online participants to react to. Ch. engchi. others’ data without being present in time. As individuals still have almost full decision over what to present, the metaphor of online exhibition is used to describe this form of self-presentation; in other words, presentation strategies are still required to achieve impression management. As Jarvandi (2014) suggested, profile photos that are open to everyone constitutes the most challenging decision for many Facebook users, especially females. While Muslim men are less restricted in their presentation, most females tried to choose profile photos that satisfy religious requirements. Yet when it comes to share photos in “albums,” for which privacy settings can be adjusted, 28.

(37) the attention to religious and social norms decreases because only friends included in their friend lists have access to the images.. Therefore, to understand the identity performance of Taiwanese Muslims, it is necessary to examine how they apply the architecture of SNS to perform their self-presentation and, if any, their collective identities in everyday context. What kind of functions provided by SNS are they using to avoid context collapse in order to. 政治大. achieve their impression management?. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 29. i n U. v.

(38) Ch3 Research Methods. 3.1 Data Collection To answer my research questions, this study draws upon qualitative methodologies. Many existing studies of online identity presentation emphasize quantitative data, for instance, content analysis of users’ names, profile photos, tags or other visual data that can be collected from websites. Indeed, statistical evidence of self-presentation is. 政治大. crucial; they are however inapplicable for further reaching the intentional strategy. 立. behind the usage of contents. For the purposes of this study on the online. ‧ 國. 學. self-presentation and impression management of Taiwanese Muslims, I employ two. ‧. qualitative means of data collection as follows:. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. I employed in-depth interview as the first means of data collection. In-depth interview. Ch. i n U. v. is conversation with established purposes through which researchers are able to. engchi. identify the individuals’ perception and opinions toward certain subjects, and to understand the decision making process of determining what content is to be revealed or concealed (Aspling, 2011). Data collected through direct dialogue during in-depth interviews help researchers to closely examine the opinions of interviewees and to provide sufficient opportunities to make sure that interviewees’ perspectives are fully expressed instead of being analyzed from the subjective perspective of researchers (Marshall& Rossman, 2014). I conducted semi-structured interviews through which. 30.

(39) researchers and interviewees engaged in discussions of subjects in accordance with the framework of research questions formulated by researchers. Researchers are required to maintain enough flexibility during the interviews in order to probe deeply into interviewees’ thoughts. I designed a list of interview guidelines to make sure the interviews are able to answer the research questions without losing focus throughout the course of dialogue. The list can be found in the Appendix section.. 政治大. I employed online participant observation as my second means of data collection.. 立. After the interviews, I observed the interviewees’ everyday activities on SNS to. ‧ 國. 學. analyze their self-presentation and to examine the strategies of impression. ‧. management they claim to carry out. It is dangerous for researchers to make judgment. sit. y. Nat. on the words of interviewees, because people often claim they are doing one thing. io. n. al. er. while they are actually doing another (Corbin& Strauss, 2008). On the one hand,. i n U. v. through participant observation, researchers are able to reexamine the data they have. Ch. engchi. obtained from interviews and gain more information. On the other hand, it is beneficial to combine observation with interviews to verify the interpretations provided by participants. Finally, observation allows researchers insight into non-linguistic aspects of behavior (Hewson, Yule, Laurent& Vogel, 2003). Considering the various forms of self-presentation provided on SNS, combining in-depth interview and online participant observation is the most appropriate way to collect data for my study.. 31.

(40) Facebook is the SNS on which I observed the identity performance of Taiwanese Muslims. Among all the social network sites currently available, Facebook unquestionably features the largest user population in Taiwan. According to a Facebook annual report (2016), there are more than 18 million active users in Taiwan per month. The amount of active users is up to 13 million per day as well. According to the report of Internet user data issued by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics of the Executive Yuan, nearly 80% of Taiwanese used the. 政治大. Internet in 2016. The population of Internet users is almost equal to the amount of. 立. active Facebook users in Taiwan. While it is observed that users in other countries are. ‧ 國. 學. shifting from Facebook to other SNSs, the branch of the Facebook Empire in Taiwan. ‧. seems still stand firmly. Since Facebook launched the Chinese edition and became. sit. y. Nat. popular in Taiwan in 2009, Taiwanese users have become used to the real-name. io. n. al. er. system of Facebook. They have also accustomed to using Facebook to connect and. i n U. v. interact with people they already know in the offline world. The high penetration rate. Ch. engchi. and high proportion of Facebook usage in Taiwan has made the SNS a representative online stage on which the dynamics among performers, audiences and teams can reflect the social context in Taiwan society to a great extent. Moreover, I discussed the important role that SNS architectures play in the process of self-presentation and impression management. In comparison with other popular SNSs, Facebook allows users to post maximum varieties of content as performative materials, including both short and lengthy texts, website links, photos, videos, and even Live video. Individuals are able to use various functions to interact with each other, such as “like”, 32.

(41) “check-in” and “tagging” as well. Facebook also provides a set of privacy setting tools with which users are able to control the confines of different stages post by post. The comprehensive technological functions provided by Facebook enable users to manage their performance and audiences in a meticulous way. Therefore, I collected data from the Facebook pages of my interviewees, together with the information from other websites that they share on their Facebook.. 3.2 Sampling. 立. 政治大. The younger generations of Taiwanese Muslims only make up 0.3% of Taiwan’s. ‧ 國. 學. population. Considering the very small number of potential participants, I used. ‧. snowball sampling as a method for reaching the ideal interviewees. Snowball sampling is a recruitment method often used in exploratory research and qualitative. y. Nat. er. io. sit. research either when the population under investigation is relatively small or the topic is sensitive. Initially, I sought to interview three of my young Taiwanese Muslim. al. n. v i n friends that I knew from taking C Arabic courses in college. Then I expanded the sample hengchi U by asking them to introduce other interviewees. The interviewees have to be willing to allow me to access his/her Facebook timeline so that I can conduct participant observation on their self-presentation either in front of their friends or to the public. according to their privacy settings.. The sample is composed of 11 Taiwanese Muslims, 9 of whom are male and 2 of whom are female. Their ages range from 20 to 39. Among the interviewees, 4 regard themselves as active both on Facebook activities promoting the knowledge of Islam. 33.

(42) and Muslim while others’ self-evaluated degree of activity varies.. I conducted semi-structured recorded interviews with the interviewees from March to June in 2016. Each of the in-depth interviews was conducted in Chinese for around 60 to 90 minutes, during which I asked the interviewees about their perception of their identity and life as a Muslim in Taiwanese society, how they present their identity on Facebook, as well as the intentions and strategy of usage behind their. 政治大. self-presentation and impression management. Due to ethical concerns that could. 立. cause harm to my interviewees, I do not cite the contents they post but describe them. ‧ 國. 學. instead. I have also changed the interviewees’ names to protect their anonymity. The. ‧. outline and list of interview questions can be found in Appendix 1.. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. However, it is worth noting that for Taiwanese Muslims who are unwilling to present. i n U. v. their religious identity online and those who do not use Facebook, the lack of. Ch. engchi. participation in Muslim community on Facebook may lead to their absence in my study.. 34.

(43) Ch4. The Self-identity of Young Taiwanese Muslims and Their Audiences in Taiwanese Mainstream Society. 4.1 The Hybrid Identity of being a Taiwanese Muslim. In previous studies, Muslims in Taiwan have been categorized into several groups on. 政治大. the basis of their diasporic backgrounds (Yu, 2009; Hu& Ma, 2011; Chen, 2012). The. 立. diversity of their origins resulted in various forms of identities for Muslims living in. ‧ 國. 學. Taiwan. However, these forms of identity are possibly being merged into a single. ‧. identity—the Taiwanese Muslim (Lin, 2013; Pelletier, 2014). As discussed before the. sit. y. Nat. first and generation of Han-speaking Muslim who moved to Taiwan decades ago. io. n. al. er. mostly identified themselves as ethnic minority “Hui”. Being a Hui means that you. i n U. v. are simultaneously a Muslim. These old Hui tend to refer to their people who no. Ch. engchi. longer practice Islam as “becoming a Han (漢人)” (Pillsbury, 1973; Pelletier, 2014). However, studies show that the newly-formed identity as Taiwanese can be comprehended as two separate parts. The part of being Taiwanese is usually referred as an identity that is highly linked to the nationality of Taiwan (or R.O.C.) and the sentiments of belonging to the land of Taiwan. Thus, it could be viewed as an identity of localized citizenship. On the other hand, the identity of Muslim has become exclusively related to religious identity instead of strictly binding to ethnic identity. The Han-speaking Muslims’ identity has shifted from the single identity as Hui to the 35.

(44) hybrid identity that consists of nationality and religion.. The findings of this study confirm the arguments above. All of the interviewees firmly identified themselves as Taiwanese Muslim, thus hybridizing localized citizenship and religious identity. Most of the interviewees have lived outside Taiwan for at least four years. Five of them grew up in other countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Myammar because of parents career and came back to Taiwan during or after the. 政治大. elementary school. They always knew about their Taiwan nationality because of. 立. family education and the experience that growing up as “cultural Chinese” or “the. ‧ 國. 學. Asian kid”. Some of them even emphasized that the Asian look gave them more. ‧. opportunities to talk about their homeland because most of people they have met,. sit. y. Nat. including westerners and foreign Muslims, did not realized that there is a. io. n. al. er. born-Muslim population in East Asian countries and Taiwan. They always have to. i n U. v. explain the history of Hui and Muslim in Taiwan to people they first met. Therefore,. Ch. engchi. they are aware of the stages of how they gradually developed the Taiwanese identity during childhood and adolescence on accounts of overseas experience. Other four of interviewees have gone abroad for further education and the last two interviewees also have traveled abroad. They all have the experience of introducing themselves to foreigners. Almost all of my interviewees not only referred to the word “Taiwanese” as their identity but added that “I grew up in Taiwan and have been educated in Taiwan therefore I am Taiwanese.” Through these narratives they explicitly indicate that the Taiwanese identity comes from collective life experience instead of ethnic or 36.

(45) national origins. As Nadir said:. “I myself have been in Taiwan since junior high school. It took several phases for me to identify myself as Taiwanese. When I was a child, I knew that I was an ethnic Chinese living in Myanmar. Later, however, I came to identify myself as Taiwanese after spending years in Taiwan for my education and career. I grew up in Taiwan and had been educated in Taiwan.”. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Some of the interviewees additionally laid stress on the possible confusion between. ‧. Taiwanese and Chinese. As Jamil said:. sit. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. “I may say that I am Taiwanese and Chinese. But the Chinese part is more. i n U. v. like from cultural aspect, it does not mean that I am a citizen of China.. Ch. engchi. Usually I say that I am from Taiwan. ”. Nadir also expressed the same notion:. “I am not a Chinese citizen because I have never lived in China. I grew up and went to school in Taiwan.”. With a hybrid identity such as this, these young Taiwanese Muslims have their own 37.