Roy, Srila. (2006) Revolutionary marriage: on the politics of sexual stories in Naxalbari. Feminist Review (Issue 83). pp. 99-118. ISSN 0141-7789

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Abstract

Marriage practices, the dynamics of interpersonal relationships and the politics of sexuality are relatively under-researched themes in the study of Bengali communism. Historical scholarship on the revolutionary politics of the extreme left Naxalbari andolan of the late 1960s-1970s, the object of this piece of study, is no exception. The article engages with women and men's narratives on the practice of 'revolutionary' marriage in the movement through the prism of contemporary popular memory studies and narrative analysis. Drawing on field interviews with middle-class male and female activists, the article draws attention to the contestatory nature of marriage in the collective memory of the movement. Narrative contestations over marriage in the Naxalite movement underscore, I argue, a tension between a utopian ideal of transgressive interpersonal relations and dominant middle-class codes of sexual morality. At the same time, individual attempts to 'compose' (in storytelling) socially recognizable and acceptable subject positions are grounded upon the silencing and abjection of more risky memories. Given the discrepancies and contradictions within the narrative repertoire from which individuals construct their identities, these 'marriage stories' are a tremendous resource for investigating the politics of love, sexuality and subject-formation in middle-class Bengali society.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology > Centre for the Study of Women and Gender
Journal or Publication Title:	Feminist Review
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
ISSN:	0141-7789
Date:	August 2006
Number:	Issue 83
Number of Pages:	20
Page Range:	pp. 99-118
Identification Number:	10.1057/palgrave.fr.9400283
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/33240

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