Abstract Since 2010, Korean-American communities, with the support of local governments, have sponsored ten “comfort women” memorials throughout the United States. This study focuses on the memorial statue dedicated in Glendale, California as a case study for the contentious politics of “comfort women” commemorations in distinctly American contexts. Dedicated in 2013, the Glendale Comfort Women Memorial became enmeshed in a heated controversy that resulted in a federal court case. Animated by the powerful affect of shame, the debate in which this memorial was embroiled reveals the desire to lay claim to memory on a geopolitical stage, engaging issues of gender and ethnic identities and global politics. This article argues that the Glendale Comfort Women Memorial demonstrates the ways memorials in a globalised society can be employed to assign moral culpability outside of official governmental channels and disseminate histories of oppression that might previously have been forgotten. In doing so, the memorial and the public controversy that ensued also expose the limits and complications of transnational commemorations in foreign settings.

中文翻译：

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耻辱的政治：格伦代尔慰安妇纪念馆和跨国纪念活动的复杂性

摘要 2010年以来，韩裔美国人社区在当地政府的支持下，在美国各地赞助了10场“慰安妇”纪念活动。本研究侧重于加利福尼亚州格伦代尔的纪念雕像，作为在明显的美国背景下“慰安妇”纪念活动的争议政治的案例研究。格伦代尔慰安妇纪念馆于 2013 年投入使用，卷入了一场激烈的争论，最终导致联邦法院提起诉讼。受耻辱的强大影响，这座纪念碑卷入的辩论揭示了在地缘政治舞台上要求记忆的愿望，涉及性别和种族身份以及全球政治的问题。本文认为，格伦代尔慰安妇纪念馆展示了在全球化社会中可以利用纪念馆在官方政府渠道之外追究道德责任并传播以前可能被遗忘的压迫历史的方式。在这样做的过程中，纪念活动和随之而来的公众争议也暴露了跨国纪念活动在外国环境中的局限性和复杂性。