ABSTRACT
The study of memory and place has tended to emphasise the weighty materiality and fixed nature of memorials and monuments, often focusing on single memorial sites grounded within a specific social construction and contestation of place. The chapter explores the complex dynamics by carrying out a brief case study of the ‘Comfort Women’ commemorative and human rights campaign, which addresses the abusive sexual treatment of Korean women under Japanese imperialistic rule. ‘Comfort Women’ is a euphemistic term for the women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during the Second World War. Importantly, the ‘Comfort Women’ commemorative movement, as it circulates into other regions and countries, develops and takes on meanings and political value beyond its immediate location- and time-specific context within Korea.
