Coloniality and decoloniality in ‘comfort women’ memory activism: Transnational and transgenerational truth-telling practices in Australia

Abstract

This article explores the truth-telling practices of ‘comfort women’ memory activism through the lens of coloniality and decoloniality. It examines how the colonial legacy has silenced and marginalised the voice of survivors and activists in their past and ongoing pursuit of truth and justice. This study discusses the transnational and transgenerational aspects of truth-telling practices with a focus on memory activism in Australia. Australia's historical connections to ‘comfort women’ and diasporic space for decolonial encounters have enriched memory activism in Australia. The article highlights that truth-telling practices of survivors and activists have challenged the coloniality of power, knowledge and gender by valuing marginalised voices, contesting colonial imaginaries and constructing collective memory for the decolonial present and future. It suggests decolonial praxis as a direction for ‘comfort women’ memory activism in transnational and transgenerational spaces.