Author: Royce Novak, Department of History, Kenyon College - Academia.edu

Abstract: »The history of the ‘comfort women’ system in Vietnam is obscure relative to most other parts of Asia, and historical memory of Vietnamese comfort women is more-or-less non-existent. This article unpacks factors as to why a collective memory of this traumatic history never developed. Following an overview of the history and historiography of the comfort women system in Vietnam, this article investigates three factors that have complicated the emergence of survivors’ testimonies since 1945, namely continuous warfare in Vietnam through 1975, Vietnam-Japan relations from 1975 to the present, and a wider discussion of narrative frameworks employed in collective memory. This last point expands discussion of the comfort women system in Vietnam to identify spaces within which memory may emerge in a way that counteracts the exclusion of voices which have been marginalised in comfort women memory. It concludes by emphasising the importance of further archival research, academic discussion, as well as the potential role of the Vietnamese diaspora.« (Source: Women's History Review)

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of Japan / Shōwa era | History of Asia: History of Vietnam / French Indochina | Prostitution: Forced prostitution / Comfort women | Sex and the law: Wartime sexual violence / Sexual violence in World War II | War: Pacific War / Japanese war crimes