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Over the past two decades, aged care in Taiwan has seen rapid reform, focusing on improving service capacity. While the government highlights coverage rates as a measure of success, this narrow perspective ignores broader issues in aged care and fails to tackle relational and democratic issues that need to be addressed for support to be sustainable. This policy direction has posed particular challenges for Indigenous elders.

Drawing from her ongoing research, Dr Wasiq Silan will discuss the experiences of Indigenous elders receiving care within their communities. Although the social welfare program aims to address health inequalities and provide services tailored to community needs, it inadvertently acts as a form of colonization for Indigenous peoples. By framing them as social problems, these programs perpetuate colonial power dynamics in everyday welfare provision.

Dr Silan will provide an overview of current social welfare programs, focusing on Day Clubs, to highlight often-overlooked colonial ideologies that lie behind a mask of benevolence. Finally, she will share insights into the type of care Indigenous elders desire and propose an ethos for policy-making that truly works for their communities.

Wasiq Silan is an Indigenous Tayal woman from the Mstaranan region, in northern Taiwan. She is an Assistant Professor at the College of Indigenous Studies in National Dong Hwa University. Her research interests are in developing sustainable quality-of-life care systems, decolonizing state-Indigenous relationships and exploring collaborative and community-based approaches. 

Drinks reception at 5pm for 5:30pm start.  the 2024 ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵTaiwan Update Program.

Photo credit: 08.01 ×Üͳ´ú±íÕþ¸®ÏòԭסÃñ×åµÀǸ by ×Üͳ¸®/Flickr