'Newcomers' Portrayed in Civics Textbooks in Taiwan Society: 'Multiculturalism' in Taiwan

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the “newcomers” and their children, whose presence has been increasing since the 2000s, and to clarify how they are positioned in Taiwanese society through policy and textbook descriptions. The results of the analysis of the “Civics and Social Studies” textbooks, which are considered to reflect the most “multicultural” education in Taiwan, showed that the “newcomers” are positioned as one of the ethnic groups and that it is important to understand the different cultures of the “newcomers” and other ethnic groups to respect multiculturalism. However, the textbooks also stated that the “newcomers” were a group of ethnic groups. On the other hand, the textbooks do not mention specific images of “newcomers,” and portray biased images of “newcomers” in other parts of the text (pictures and columns), which may indicate a risk of discrepancy with reality. In addition, while the textbooks depict the “newcomers” as a symbol of Taiwan’s “pluralistic culture,” the focus is on how to guarantee the rights of the “newcomers” and other socially vulnerable groups, rather than on how to include the “newcomers” as a social minority and create a “community” for Taiwan as a whole. The focus is on how to guarantee the rights of the“ newcomers” and other socially vulnerable groups, rather than on how to imagine a single “community” that is inclusive of all Taiwanese “newcomers”. Such descriptions may lead students to perceive“ newcomers” as“ those who need to be taken into consideration” and may inculcate false stereotypes.