Remembering Revolution: Gender, Violence, and Subjectivity in India’s Naxalbari Movement

Women’s participation in the Maoist revolution in India and the subcontinent as a whole has become more pronounced in recent years. The literature available on the gendered politics of left-wing cultures and practices of violence is, however, somewhat limited. Remembering Revolution constitutes one of the first major studies of women’s role and involvement in the late 1960s’ radical Left Naxalbari movement of West Bengal, the birthplace of Indian Maoism.

Using the production of cultural memory as a central tool, middle-class women (and men) narrate their stories of ‘being a Naxalite’, of leaving homes and attempting to politicize the Indian peasantry, and of negotiating different types of violence. The book examines sexual as well as everyday interpersonal brutality as part of political violence, and how they are embedded in revolutionary movements. At a time when the face of international terrorism is increasingly female, this book raises pressing questions about women’s participation in cultures of violence.

Based on extensive field data, and drawing from a unique body of party texts, fiction, poetry, film memoirs, activist writing, and women’s personal testimonies, the book attempts to fill the gendered gap in Indian Maoist studies with its fresh focus on women’s political identities and subjectivities.

A compelling read for students and scholars of sociology, social anthropology, gender studies, cultural studies, history, and politics.