Exploring decolonial solidarity: contemporizing and contextualizing the issue of "Comfort Women"


Jiyoung Lee-An, Thompson Rivers University

This paper aims to discuss the possibility of decolonial solidarity surrounding the support work for Korean “comfort women” in Canada by paying attention to the colonial history of the Asian diaspora in both their countries of origin and Canada. More specifically, this paper examines the controversies surrounding the plan to build the Statue of Peace in Burnaby to commemorate comfort women, which was opposed by some people who argued that the building of the Statue would disrupt Canadian multicultural values. This paper critically examines the ways in which Canadian multicultural values were provoked in this debate and analyzes how multiculturalism rhetoric without the nuances of colonial history can be used to deter decolonial efforts to rectify historical wrongdoings. Combined with the efforts to recognize the tragic history of state-led racism against the Asian diaspora and settler colonial violence, this paper argues that solidarity among the Asian diaspora can be made through actively engaging with the unresolved history of Japanese colonial violence against comfort women in Asia and supporting victims of colonial violence. 

This paper will be presented at the following session: