Ph.D. Dissertation in Progress:

Constructing Diasporic Memories of “Comfort Women”

: Divergent Group Identities and Social Memory through the Statue of Peace.

My dissertation examines how two co-ethnic memory activist groups have constructed distinct identities and social memories of women forced into military sexual slavery. Ultimately, I argue that the groups’ mobilization of divergent identity narratives and mnemonic frameworks reveals the multiplicity and liminality of diasporic subjectivities and social memories.

My research highlights the often-overlooked heterogeneity within diasporic memory work, challenging dominant assumptions that co-ethnic communities possess uniform identities and memories shaped primarily through ties to the homeland. Although well-studied, the “comfort women” movement in the U.S. is largely framed as a unified transnational effort. My work complicates this narrative of honoring these women, offering a nuanced understanding of how diasporic subjectivities are negotiated in local contexts. It contributes to scholarship on diaspora and feminist memory activism by foregrounding the significance of place, identity, and localized commemorative practices.

My findings form the foundation of several related publications. Two articles—“Trick or Treat: Hunting or Embracing Haunting Statue(s) of Peace” (The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus) and “From State Immunity to Survivor-Centered Justice” (International Feminist Journal of Politics)—are currently under revise-and-resubmit, both emerging from core findings of the dissertation. A third article, “Necropatriarchal Vandalism,” deepens the dissertation’s engagement with symbolic violence against memorials, while “‘A Divorce Counselor, Putting A Marriage Back Together’” extends its critique of patriarchal diplomacy by analyzing U.S. intervention in the 2015 agreement.