City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Gender and radical politics in India, magic moments of Naxalbari (1967-1975), Mallarika Sinha Roy

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

Gender and radical politics in India

electronic resource

bibliography

Mallarika Sinha Roy

Routledge studies in South Asian history, 10

magic moments of Naxalbari (1967-1975)

This ia an analysis of the participation of women in the Naxalbari movement and their experiences. The text makes a significant contribution to the understanding of radical communist politics in South Asia, particularly in relation to issues concerning the role of women in radical politics., The Naxalbari movement marks a significant moment in the postcolonial history of India. Beginning as an armed peasant uprising in 1967 under the leadership of radical communists, the movement was inspired by the Marxist-Leninist theory of revolution and involved a significant section of the contemporary youth from diverse social strata with a vision of people's revolution. It inspired similar radical movements in other South Asian countries such as Nepal. Arguing that the history and memory of the Naxalbari movement is fraught with varied gendered experiences of political motivation, revolutionary activism, and violence, this book analyses the participation of women in the movement and their experiences. Based on extensive ethnographic and archival research, the author argues that women's emancipation was an integral part of their vision of revolution, and many of them identified the days of their activism as magic moments, as a period of enchanted sense of emancipation. The book places the movement into the postcolonial history of South Asia. It makes a significant contribution to the understanding of radical communist politics in South Asia, particularly in relation to issues concerning the role of women in radical politics