Coalition building and mobilization: case studies of the comfort women memorials in the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACTDiaspora politics, coalition building, and the gender rights movement have come together to bring about the unexpected: the public memorialization in the United States of “comfort women,” young women from across Asia forced to provide sexual services to the Japanese Imperial Army during the 1930s and 1940s. In this article, we explore how local politics in the United States became the site of competing narratives over the comfort women, and debates over erecting memorials or statues in honor of these women on public land. Our analysis builds on the existing literature on the role of diaspora in international and local politics but also adds the important dimension of changing gender norms. Through case studies, we explore the dynamics behind the success or failure of the siting of a monument and the important role of activists and local politicians in mobilizing support throughout the process. Using a qualitative approach based on fieldwork and interviews, we highlight the size and trends of the ethnic Korean population, the relative strengths of supporting and opposing coalitions, and the use of the strategy of universalism in determining whether or not the goal of siting a memorial in honor of the comfort women is achieved.