The Filipino comfort women on YouTube
Emotions, advocacy, and war memories in a transnational digital space
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6442289 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Lee Candelaria (0000-0001-9815-1410, Hiroshima University of Economics), Joselito Ebro (0009-0007-5973-1026, University of the Philippines Diliman) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 859-875 |
| Publication date | 2024-06-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Memory Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1750-6980 • E-ISSN: 1750-6999 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/17506980241255074 |
| OpenAlex | W4399503314 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 31 |
In this article, we examine the representation and contestation of Filipino comfort women’s memories on YouTube and assess the platform’s role in public discourse and transnational activism. Our content analysis of visual and narrative elements, alongside user commentary on selected videos, reveals that YouTube acts as a crucial transnational medium, linking advocacy networks and contextualizing historical narratives. However, the videos often sensationalize the victims’ experiences, undermining the seriousness of sexual violence, which could potentially weaken advocacy efforts. Moreover, user commentary on the videos can promote counter-narratives, rumors, and hostile comments. Despite these challenges, we underscore YouTube’s significance in fostering public discourse on war memories and justice in the Philippines in light of the government’s efforts to suppress the history of Filipino comfort women. The platform encourages the sharing of corroborative postmemory, enhancing war memorialization and audience engagement, and supporting the women’s claims of abuse. Ultimately, YouTube’s role as an open forum for discussion is vital in fostering dialogues for peace and justice and countering propaganda and hate
Comfort women · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Computer Science · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · History · Psychology
Memory Activism
“Dainty hands do useful work”
‘I can’t remember how many I killed. . .’
State Repression and the Labors of Memory
The Generation of Postmemory
The Comfort Women
Reconsidering the 'Comfort Women' and Their Supporters
Website of memory
Comfort women must fall’? Japanese governmental responses to ‘comfort women’ statues around the world
Remediating the past
Online war memorials
And Connective Memory
Memory in the margins
Asia's ‘Boom’ of Difficult Memories
The politics of religion
Difficult heritage on social network sites
"Human Rights and the "Comfort Women
Looking at the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes, Cambodia, on Flickr and YouTube
Disputes in Japan over the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” System and Its Perception in History
The Koreans in Second World War Philippines
"The Korean "Comfort Women
The new grey of memory
Media, Memory, Metaphor
Entangled in the Continuum of Violence
The Generation of Postmemory
Freeing the 'Slaves of Destiny
The Politics of Asia-Pacific War Memorialization in Thailand's Victory Monument and the Philippines' Shrine of Valor
Japan's Shift to the Right
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |