Issue 42
(Dis)agreements

Whose Memory Is It? Visual Culture and War Memories in East Asia

Alberto Porta-Pérez
Universitat Jaume I
Bio
Marcos Centeno-Martin
Universitat de València
Bio
Edward Vickers
Universidad de Kyushu (Japón)
Bio
Xiaoning Lu
SOAS University of London
Bio
Bingbing Shi
University of Oxford
Bio

Published 2026-07-31

Keywords

  • Visual Culture,
  • Transnational Memory,
  • East Asian Cinema,
  • Historical Memory,
  • War Memory,
  • Comfort Women
  • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Porta-Pérez, A., Centeno-Martin, M., Vickers, E., Lu, X., & Shi, B. (2026). Whose Memory Is It? Visual Culture and War Memories in East Asia. L’Atalante. Journal of Film Studies, (42), 170–191. https://doi.org/10.63700/1413

Abstract

This interview brings together three leading scholars whose research focuses on transnational memory from different disciplinary perspectives. Edward Vickers, Bingbing Shi, and Xiaoning Lu reflect on the relationship between memory and historical conflict in East Asia, using visual culture as the central axis of the discussion. Through the analysis of film and other forms of representation, they examine how visual culture both reinforces and challenges national narratives of war. The conversation also addresses specific historical events, including the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Korean War, the Nanjing Massacre, and the unresolved legacy of the comfort women system. Furthermore, it interrogates the categories of victim and perpetrator, as well as the tensions between national and transnational memory. Taken together, the interview highlights how visual culture constitutes a privileged site for negotiating memories of the past and for understanding the contemporary challenges of memory in East Asia.

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References

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