Description
This paper examines clandestinity as a relational dynamic of civil war. Building on feminist theories of social reproduction, we explore clandestinity as a set of practices that not only relies on but generates relationships, including affective ties. How is clandestinity as a set of practices pursued by armed groups variously in relation to the ‘people’ and in relation to the state? What kinds of relationships do these practices rely on and generate? We explore these questions with reference to the Maoist movement in Nepal, drawing on ethnographic research with ‘whole-timers’ who participated in the movement in as fighters, artists and political cadres. We illustrate how clandestine practices of sheltering and provisioning relied on gendered labour whilst generating crucial spaces for further mobilisation. We then delve deeper into how the whole-timers interpreted their relationship to the ‘people’, thereby offering crucial insights into the affective and ideological dimensions of clandestine mobilisation. Our paper advances a feminist theorisation of clandestinity that centres social reproductive labour and pushes the Conflict Studies scholarship to rethink how relationality is conceptualised in context of clandestine movements and civil war.
