Empowering narratives: Rethinking Taiwan through the National Museum of History in Taiwan

This article examines the Oceanic Taiwan exhibition at Taiwan’s National Museum of History (NMH) as a pivotal moment in reshaping national identity through museum narratives. Departing from its Sinocentric legacy, the NMH engaged diverse non-state actors to construct a maritime-centered curatorial assemblage that foregrounded Taiwan’s settler-colonial history and ongoing democratization. Using Bennett’s museum theory and Latour’s Actor-Network Theory, the study analyzes the exhibition’s agency in producing a counternarrative that simultaneously advanced decolonial aims and revealed representational limitations—particularly regarding Indigenous voices. Oceanic Taiwan exemplifies both the potential and challenges of national museums in cultural decolonization and identity rearticulation in post-authoritarian Taiwan.