探花系列

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Faculty of Graduate Studies

Curran Chapman

  • B.A. (University of Puget Sound, 2020)
Notice of the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Master of Arts

Topic

Feeling, Listening, and Justice: Centering Survivor Voice in Processes of Redress for Japanese Military Sexual Slavery

Department of Pacific and Asian Studies

Date & location

  • Friday, April 10, 2026
  • 3:00 P.M.
  • Clearihue Building, Room B021

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

  • Dr. ann-elise lewallen, Department of Pacific and Asian Studies, 探花系列 (Supervisor)
  • Dr. Sujin Lee, Department of Pacific and Asian Studies, UVic (Member)

External Examiner

  • Dr. Tatiana Degai, Department of Anthropology, UVic

Chair of Oral Examination

  • Dr. Darcy Mathews, School of Environmental Studies, UVic

Abstract

In support of Japanese colonial expansion at the beginning of the 20th century, the Japanese Empire established what is known as the “comfort system,” or Japanese military sexual slavery. Via this system, the Japanese Empire coerced and kidnapped women and children within its colonial reach, forcing them into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers. Since the first survivor broke a 50-year silence in 1991, “comfort system” survivors across the Asia-Pacific have demanded justice from the Japanese government in the form of official apology and reparations. However, these demands have met strong resistance from the Japanese government, history denialists, and structural heteropatriarchy. Through learning from intersectional feminist and Native feminist scholarship, this project informs the efforts to achieve survivors’ demands for justice outside of mainstream legal processes. Intersectional feminism advocates for a deeper analysis of the diverse intersections of identity and structural barriers that affect individuals. Native feminism, with its critique of dehumanization under colonialism and its acknowledgement of felt experience as a legitimate form of knowledge, empowers the truth behind survivor experience. By centering survivors’ affective knowledge as defined by Dian Million, recognizing their individual contexts, and listening to their testimonies, this research aims to hold up survivor voice as the locus from which all justice must emerge.

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