Armed Struggle, Identity and the State: Experiences of Women in Conflict Situations in Assam, India

Abstract

This study, Armed Struggle, Identity and the State: Experiences of Women in Conflict Situations in Assam, India, is important for two reasons. One, it is one of the first studies relating to the long history of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in Assam that focuses on women. Two, it documents the experiences of women during their days spent with a militant ‘outfit’ and records their plight in the surrender/designated camps. The story of their personal lives, in particular, is that of disillusionment, once their initial excitement of individual freedom and mobility seemed to have been snuffed out by their own male colleagues and spouses. The study also explores different layers of discrimination experienced by women who are indirectly or directly associated with the conflict, including the inequities faced at different phases of the ‘active’ lives of women combatants.