Creating a Collective Memory of the Comfort Women in the USA

Hasunuma, Linda; McCarthy, Mary M.

doi:10.1007/s10767-018-9302-1

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…87 This is particularly the case in liberal democratic regimes, where the public sphere is most robustly developed. 88 Nevertheless, the societal importance and political relevance of such collectives has been widely recognized in various regime types, as exemplified by their role in the memorialization movement during the USSR's breakdown. 89 The Immortal Regiment is one such intermediary actor that has become a critical component of historical interpretations that embrace a pro-Russian view of World War II.…”

Section: Social Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circulation, Conditions, Claims: Examining the Politics of Historical Memory in Eastern Europe

Krawatzek

Soroka

2021

East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures

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Across Eastern Europe how the past is remembered has become a crucial factor for understanding present-day political developments within and between states. In this introduction, we first present the articles that form part of this special section through a discussion of the various methods used by the authors to demonstrate the potential ways into studying collective memory. We then define the regional characteristics of Eastern Europe’s mnemonic politics and the reasons for their oftentimes conflictual character. Thereafter we consider three thematic arenas that situate the individual contributions to this special section within the wider scholarly debate. First, we examine the institutional and structural conditions that shape the circulation of memory and lead to conflictive constellations of remembering; second, we discuss how different regime types and cultural rules influence the framing of historical episodes, paying attention to supranational integration and the role of technological change; third, we consider the different types of actors that shape the present recall of the past, including political elites, social movements, and society at large. We conclude by identifying several promising avenues for further research.

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Section: Social Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circulation, Conditions, Claims: Examining the Politics of Historical Memory in Eastern Europe

Krawatzek

Soroka

2021

East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures

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“…Rather, it is the outcome of concerted memory activism. As Hasunuma and McCarthy (2019) have argued, recent social activism surrounding comfort women in the United States has resulted from an 'awakening' of diasporic and feminist identity among female Korean American grassroots activists. The transnational remembrance of comfort women fits within a broader pattern in which East Asian diasporas have 'reactivated' memories of Japanese colonialism and the Asia-Pacific War through statues, memorials, and museums.…”

Section: The 'Comfort Women' As Multidirectional Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much recent research on comfort women statue politics has shed light on the roles of civil activists, including transnational Korean and feminist movements (Hasunuma and McCarthy, 2019;Mackie and Crozier-De Rosa, 2019;Lay, 2016, 2019;Yoon, 2018) and the Japanese far-right known as 'historical revisionists' who deny that comfort women were coerced into prostitution (Koyama, 2015;Nakano, 2016;Takenaka, 2016;Yamaguchi, 2020). In contrast, this article foregrounds Japanese government actors -at both regional and national levels -as transnational memory agents in the struggles over comfort women statues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Comfort women must fall’? Japanese governmental responses to ‘comfort women’ statues around the world

Ushiyama

2021

Memory Studies

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This article examines Japanese governmental responses to memorial statues dedicated to ‘comfort women’ – women across the Asia-Pacific whom the Japanese military forced into conditions now recognised as sexual slavery before and during World War Two. This article discusses four cases around the world in which Japanese government officials have demanded the removal of comfort women statues: 1) Glendale, California; 2) San Francisco; 3) Manila; and 4) Berlin. The global expansion of comfort women memorialisation is significant to contemporary statue politics and crises of memory in three ways. Firstly, East Asian diasporas have become important actors in the remembrance of Japanese colonialism and the Asia-Pacific War outside East Asia. Secondly, these statues constitute attempts by diasporas to recover and reclaim a traumatic past through material culture. Thirdly, despite the global geographical reach of comfort women memory activism, neither nationalism nor the power of the nation-state have declined in today’s transnational world.

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“…Similarly, attempts to redefine slavery as a crime against humanity are linked to a convergence between communist MPs and associations from the French Antilles, beginning at the local level (Michel, 2015). It was also local political dynamics that were responsible for memory policies in the United States dedicated to the fate of Korean "comfort women" who were sexually abused by Japanese occupying forces in Korea during the Second World War (Hasunuma and McCarthy, 2019).…”

Section: When Memory Policy Gives Rise To "Victims"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Memory

Gensburger

Lefranc

2020

Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies

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This book provides a fresh perspective on the familiar belief that memory policies are successful in building peaceful societies. Whether in a stable democracy or in the wake of a violent political conflict, this book argues that memory policies are largely unhelpful in preventing hate, genocide, and mass crimes. Since the 1990s, transmitting the memory of violent pasts has been used in attempts to foster tolerance and fight racism, hate and antisemitism. However, countries that invested in memory policies have overseen the rise of hate crimes and populisms instead of growing social cohesion. Breaking with the usual moralistic position, this book takes stock of this situation. Where do these memory policies come from? Whom do they serve? Can we make them more effective? In other words, can we really learn from the past? At a time when memory studies is blooming, this book questions the normative belief in the effects of memory.

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Creating a Collective Memory of the Comfort Women in the USA

Cited by 8 publications

References 11 publications

Circulation, Conditions, Claims: Examining the Politics of Historical Memory in Eastern Europe

Circulation, Conditions, Claims: Examining the Politics of Historical Memory in Eastern Europe

‘Comfort women must fall’? Japanese governmental responses to ‘comfort women’ statues around the world

Beyond Memory

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