The opening episode features an encounter with Aayushma who is active in the victims’ movement in Nepal. We hear about her experiences of meeting researchers and how she navigates these interactions. To situate the series, we offer insights into the Maoist ‘People’s War’ in Nepal and its aftermath, underpinned by international practices of peacebuilding.
In this episode we meet women activists whose husbands were disappeared during the war and who have mobilised a collective victims’ movement. What does it mean to do ‘victims’ work’? How might new affective bonds emerge through shared experiences of violence?
This episode delves into the complex relationship between women activists engaged in the victims’ movement and human rights NGOs. Who gets to advocate for whom in the context of peacebuilding? Are there spaces for solidarity within these contested interactions? What are the limits for navigating such relations as a researcher?
This episode explores stories of women who fought in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) propagated women’s liberation as central to their People’s War. But how did women who contributed to the movement conceptualise the struggle and their own participation? How did they first get involved?
In this episode we delve deeper into the stories of women ex-PLA fighters, exploring political agency in the aftermath of war. What is at stake when women ex-fighters appear to be moving away from party activities and the public sphere? What does it mean to be ‘tired of politics’? How to engage with that sentiment as a feminist researcher?
