Jin R. Choi
Jin is a Ph.D. student in Rhetoric & Political Culture in the Department of Communication. Her overarching research interests include: globalization, power, social change, belonging and citizenship, and identity. Jin holds spaces of belonging in Seoul, Xi'an, Ohio, Maryland, and Massachusetts. She received her B.A. in Sociology and Communication Arts from Gordon College, where she grew into the liberal-arts-oriented scholar/creative she is today.
Stay up-to-date on Jin's evolving research interests and projects here: jinrchoi.com.
Publications
The U.S. Empire Remembers Violence Against Asian Women: “Comfort Women” Monuments and Transnational Global Memoryscapes
New article in WSiC on memory studies and the San Francisco “Comfort Women” Column of Strength
Author/Lead: Jin R. ChoiThis paper offers a rhetorical analysis to read the San Francisco “Comfort Women” Column of Strength memorial within the context of the United States’ historical violence against Asian women with white sexual imperialism as a theoretical lens. Utilizing in situ rhetorical field methods and critical rhetorical criticism, I contend that the San Francisco “Comfort Women” Column of Strength memorial illuminates how the medium of a public memorial faces certain constraints and difficulties in being able to name and critique U.S. imperialism as a historical narrative to be publicly remembered in dominant national memory. I offer transnational global memoryscape, extending Phillips and Reyes’ global memoryscape, as a concept that necessarily draws our attention specifically towards unequal forces of power across borders, such as Western imperialist forces in Asia. Ultimately, a critical, transnational lens on public memory is imperative to situate national public memories within a global context as memories flow across borders.