The Movement to Redress the Japanese Military Comfort Women: Grassroots' Concerns and Responses Today
About the Seminar
This seminar explores the contemporary grassroots movement seeking justice for survivors of the Japanese military "comfort women" system. The session examines how civic groups, activists, communities, and transnational networks continue to advocate for recognition, redress, and historical accountability. It also looks at how these movements respond to ongoing political tensions, historical denialism, generational shifts, and changing geopolitical landscapes in East Asia today.
Drawing on broader themes within media, nationalism, and social movements, the seminar investigates how the issue is framed in public discourse, how activism has evolved over time, and how grassroots actors navigate complex intersections of gender, memory, identity, and national politics. The talk aims to illuminate why the comfort women issue remains a deeply emotional and politically charged subject, and how contemporary advocates conceptualise justice, healing, and reconciliation.
Speaker and Discussant
Speaker: Prof Gil-Soo Han (Monash University)
MC: A Prof Dongbae Lee (Co-director of UQ Korean Studies Centre, The University of Queensland)
Discussant: Dr in Jung Jee (The University of Queensland)
About the Speaker
Prof Gil-Soo Han is a professor of communications at the School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University, Australia. Trained as a sociologist, he teaches media sociology, global/intercultural communications and global media industries. His research interests in-clude media, religion, health, ethnicity, and nationalism. His recent publications in-clude Nouveau-riche Nationalism and Multiculturalism in Korea (2016, Routledge), Funeral Rites in Contemporary Korea (2018, Springer), Calculated Nationalism in Contemporary South Korea (2023, Amsterdam Univ Press), and Korean Protestantism, Money and Na-tionalism (forthcoming, Leiden Univ Press). He is currently working on a new project, The Screen and the Shrine: Korean Religion in the Age of Digitalization and Decline.