- Title
- From the shadows of silence and shame to the light of voice and dignity: transnational activism and the contested nature of the historical memory of the "Comfort Women" in Japan
- Creator
- Tsukamoto, Sachiyo
- Relation
- Politics in Crisis? p. 113-120
- Relation
- http://www.cambridgescholars.com/politics-in-crisis
- Publisher
- Cambridge Scholars Publishing
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2015
- Description
- The fragile state of collective memory toward "comfort women"' in Japan is attributable to the fact that collective memory is not the result of organic reflection: but the result of transnational activism facilitated by an active collaboration between international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and domestic NGOs that has empowered the victims to break their silence. This transnational process has generated fierce contestation between state narratives which nurture a national sense of victim consciousness and the collective memory of moral activists who are attempting to restore dignity to the victim. Currently, a new state narrative or pre-1945 Japan constructed by new historical revisionists such as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has emerged and challenged the official state interpretation of its past. My research seeks to investigate the relationship between war memory and identity construction in Japan. This paper will explore the role and impact of transnational activism in foregrounding the historical memory of "comfort women" in Japan, thereby clarifying the interaction between the two conflicting aspects of the "comfort women" issue: the universal issue of human rights and the cultural particularism of the Japanese social fabric woven by the symbol emperor system.
- Subject
- "comfort women"; victimhood; collective memory; Japan
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1309648
- Identifier
- uon:21923
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781443872652
- Language
- eng
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