Who Owns the Night Sky? Teaching the Contested Landscape of Hehuan Mountain Dark-Sky Park through Negotiation Theater

Presented by Hong-Bing Ong (National Taiwan University GERP). Explores landscape, scientific knowledge and Indigenous peoples at Taiwan's Hehuan Mountain Dark-Sky Park, tracing the region from Japanese colonial rule and postwar KMT authoritarian control through post-martial-law tourism to the controversies around the park. Participants are guided through "Negotiation Theater", a role-play method based on Bruno Latour's actor-network theory in which students represent Indigenous peoples, astronomers, tourism operators, governments, plants and animals and the starry sky, with guidance on building related lessons. Part of the EASC / NCTA "Exploring Taiwan" series. Free; 2 PD hours. Attend all four sessions to receive a copy of Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-Zi.