Among women across worlds : North Korea in the global Cold War

**In** **__Among Women across Worlds__****, Suzy Kim excavates the transnational linkages between women of North Korea and a worldwide women's movement.** Women of Asia, especially those espousing Communism, are often portrayed as victims or pawns of a patriarchal Confucian state. Kim undercuts this standard analysis through detailed archival work in the international women's press, and finds that North Korean women asserted themselves in unexpected places from the late 1940s—just before the official beginning of the Korean War—to 1975, the year designated by the UN as International Women's Year. By centering North Korea and the "East," Kim defies convention to offer an entirely new genealogy of the global women's movement. Women of the Korean Democratic Women's Union (KDWU), as part of the global left women's movement led by the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF), insisted family and domestic issues must be part of both national and international debates, highlighting how race, nationality, sex, and class connect to form systems of colonial and capitalist exploitation. Their intersectional program claimed that there is "no peace without justice," that "the personal is the political," and that "women's rights are human rights" many decades before activists of the West embraced such agendas. __Among Women across Worlds__ is an archaeology of forgotten movements and ideas that became the foundation for those that have come to define our era.

In Among Women acrossWorlds , Suzy Kim excavates the transnationallinkages between women of North Korea and a worldwide women'smovement. Women of Asia, especially those espousingcommunism, are often portrayed as victims or pawns of a patriarchalConfucian state. Kim undercuts this standard analysis throughdetailed archival work in the international women's press, andfinds that North Korean women asserted themselves in unexpectedplaces from the late 1940s-just before the official beginning ofthe Korean War-to 1975, the year designated by the UN asInternational Women's Year.

By centering North Korea and the "East," Kim defies conventionto offer an entirely new genealogy of the global women's movement.Women of the Korean Democratic Women's Union (KDWU), as part of theglobal left women's movement led by the Women's InternationalDemocratic Federation (WIDF), insisted family and domestic issuesmust be part of both national and international debates,highlighting how race, nationality, sex, and class connect to formsystems of colonial and capitalist exploitation. Theirintersectional program claimed that there is "no peace withoutjustice," that "the personal is the political," and that "women'srights are human rights" many decades before activists of the Westembraced such agendas. Among Women across Worlds is anarchaeology of forgotten movements and ideas that became thefoundation for those that have come to define our era.

Contents Figures and Tables Abbreviations Organizations and Personalities Note on Terms, Transliteration, and Translation Introduction: Decolonial Genealogies Part 1 WAR AND PEACE 1. Women against the Korean War 2. Anti-imperialist Struggle for a Just Peace Part 2 THIRD WORLD RISING 3. Struggle between Two Lines 4. Women’s Work Is Never Done Part 3 CULTURAL REVOLUTIONS 5. Aesthetics of Everyday Folk 6. Communist Women around the World Conclusion: Transnational Solidarities Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index "Excavates the transnational linkages between women of North Korea and the world from the late 1940s to 1975, the year designated by the UN as International Women's Year, and offers a different genealogy of the global women's movement that centers the 'East' and the Third World"-- Provided by publisher.