Family War Experience and Later-Life Political Activism among Okinawan Women

Abstract

Using interviews conducted by the author in 1997 and 1998 with forty-seven Okinawan women born between 1919 and 1980, this article examines, from a lifecourse perspective, the effects of childhood or family World War II experience on activism in the anti–U.S. military peace movement. How does the memory of war and the historical context of early adulthood shape later-life activism in peace movements? The research examines links between the historical context of early adulthood, personal and family war experiences, and later-life political activism. Women reaching early adulthood in the immediate postwar period in Okinawa are argued to be more active in the antimilitary political movement than women reaching early adulthood more than thirty years after the end of World War II. Historical context, linked lives, and timing of war experience are considered to be key determinants of political activism.