Mary McCarthy, associate professor of politics and international relations, wrote the article, “Coalition building and mobilization: Case studies of the comfort women memorials in the United States,” which was recently published in the academic journal Politics, Groups, and Identities.
The article explores how diaspora 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. The 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.