Comfort Women Research & Creative Scholarship Small Grants Program

The “Comfort Women” Research and Creative Scholarship Small Grants Program awards small grants of up to $6,000 to faculty and up to $4,000 to graduate and undergraduate students who have expertise or completed course work in Asian American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Women and Gender Studies, or Sexuality Studies for conducting research or creative projects on “comfort women.” The projects could reflect on the experiences of “comfort women,” the role of activists in creating remembrances, address the intergenerational trauma and impact of “comfort women” among girls and women today, or comparative experiences of the “comfort women” experience with that of other state sanctioned sexual violence, sexual slavery and human trafficking occurring in the world.  

“Comfort women” were girls and women coerced into institutionalized sexual slavery and human trafficking by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied countries and territories during the first half of the twentieth century. In 1991, Hak-sun Kim, one of the Korean survivors, became the first to break the silence about “comfort women.” Her courage led to other survivors demanding an official apology and legal compensation from the Japanese government. These survivors or “grandmothers” became human rights activists and leaders in a global movement to hold the Japanese government accountable for its past war crimes. The issue remains relevant to current acts of wartime sexual violence and human trafficking occurring around the world today.  

The Comfort Women” Research and Creative Scholarship Small Grants Program is made possible through an anonymous donation in partnership with CARE (Comfort Women Action for Redress and Education).  

The Comfort Women Research and Creative Scholarship Small Grants Program is accepting proposals through June 1, 2025, from faculty and students for conducting research and creative projects during the 2025-2026 academic Year (grant recipient will commence their projects in August/September 2025 and complete them by May 1, 2026). The application process requires applicants to provide a description, an abstract, a budget, and a timeline for their proposed research or creative projects. The project outcomes or deliverables could include research papers, lesson plans for kindergarten to college students, chapters for academic books, poetry anthologies, films, murals, performances, or art installations. 

Grant recipients will present their projects at the College of Ethnic Studies student research showcase in Spring 2026 and share them publicly on social media, the Race, Empowerment, and Justice Project website, and the University’s digital collections archive. The recipients will also present their projects at a forum or remembrance event on International Memorial Day for “Comfort Women” (August 14, 2025). 

For questions Dr. Mai-Nhung Le at mainhung@sfsu.edu.

Francis Wong, lecturer in Asian American Studies, is creating a 15 minute-long three movement musical and dance work to be performed and documented in San Francisco's St. Mary's Square at the site of the Comfort Women Memorial.  

Kathlyn Quan, lecturer in Asian American Studies, is completing a creative project, SEEKING TRUTH: Tales of the Comfort Women, which includes zines, posters and a lesson guide using zines and discussion as a way to make this topic accessible in the classroom. 

Click here to visit the Race, Empowerment, and Justice Project website.

2023 CARE "Comfort Women" Scholarship Showcase. Click here to view the webinar.  

2023 CARE "위안부" 장학금 프로젝트 발표회 웨비나 영상을 보시려면 아래 화면을 클릭하세요.  여러 학생들과 교육자들에게 영감을 줄 수 있도록 널리 공유해 주시기 바랍니다! 

CARE established the "comfort women" scholarship in US and Korean Colleges with generous donation from an anonymous donor.  This is the first year's presentation of that scholarship and it'll continue next year.  

CARE에서는 익명의 후원자로부터 기금을 지원받아 미국과 한국의 대학교에 "위안부" 프로젝트를 진행하는 장학금을 신설하였습니다.  2023년의 그 장학금 결과물이 처음으로 발표되는 해이며, 이 장학금 프로그램은 내년에도 계속될 것입니다. 

Presentation by the CARE scholarship awardees from 5 colleges on Nov 29, 2023.

Speakers

0:07 Phyllis Kim, Executive Director of Comfort Women Action for Redress and Education (CARE)

2:20 Peipei Qiu, Faculty, Vassar College

2:57 Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase, Faculty, Vassar College

3:12 Seowon Back, Student, Vassar College (Presenter)

14:50 Jennifer Jung-Kim, Faculty, UCLA (Presenter)

24:05 Saetbyeol Leeyouk & Chaeyeong Ryou, Students, Sogang University (Presenters)

29:05 Jumyung Yoo, Student, Sogang University (Presenter)

33:51 Dasol Lee, Student, Sogang University (Presenter)

41:50 Jinah Kim, Faculty, CSUN 

43:16 Junliang Huang, Faculty, CSUN (Presenter)

1:01:52 Katie Quan, Faculty, SFSU (Presenter)

1:12:00 Francis Wong, Faculty, SFSU (Presenter)