After Silence: Gender-Based Violence and Feminist Resistance across Asia

AHA Session 22
Chinese Historians in the United States 1
Friday, January 3, 2025: 1:30 PM-3:00 PM
Nassau West (New York Hilton, Second Floor)
Chair:
Qiong Liu, Virginia Military Institute
Papers:

Session Abstract

This panel explores multifaceted dimensions of gender-based violence and feminist resistance in history across East Asia, presenting critical insights from China, Korea, Japan and broader representations in history.

Tiantian Zheng’s research unravels the complexities surrounding sexual violence in postsocialist China, spotlighting the legal ambiguities and cultural norms that perpetuate gendered injustices. Lin Li’s presentation focus to the politicization of “comfort women” survivors’ voices, interrogating the linguistic and ideological barriers that shape the reception of their testimonies. By analyzing the survivors’ narratives, Li demonstrates the curcial conditions necessary for the victim’s voices to be heard, challenging both linguistic hegemony and nationalist discourses. Belinda Qian He offers a critical perspective on the portrayal of sexual violence in Asian cinema, examining films as sites of feminist resistance. Through a comparative analysis of films, He interrogates the patriarchal storytelling modes and underscores cinema's potential as a platform for feminist critique and advocacy. Qiong Liu revisits narratives of sexual crimes during China's Land Reform, illustrating how rape narratives were utilized in CCP’s propaganda to mobilize women and peasants. Liu’s work emphasizes the recontextualization of rape as a class crime, exploring its implications for public discourse and the empowerment of rural women to voice their experiences within revolutionary frames.

Together, these presentations underscore the complexity of addressing gender-based violence within Asia's socio-cultural and historical contexts, advocating for nuanced understanding and feminist solidarity in resistance efforts.

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