Rooted Regionalism: The Social Movement of “Comfort Women” in South Korea, China and Taiwan

Abstract

This article analyzes the social movement of "comfort women" in South Korea, China and Taiwan, protagonist in the configuration of a new geopolitics of memory in the region. The central proposal that guides the work maintains that the analyzed social actors show a high level of regional roots, provoking harmonic processes of local differentiation that densify the network without merging local activism with the transnational one. The relevant analytical axes are morphology, identities and links as well as the theoretical methodological discussion around how to analyze the interaction levels of a transnational movement from a relational perspective that recovers submerged networks at the local level. The present research bases its proposal on a qualitative study of integrated cases based on institutional material, participant observation and open interviews with members of the selected organizations.