Hi, everyone! Since we were cut short for time, I\u2019m transferring all of my thoughts to my blog post for the week \u2013 but am happy to share in our unconference on Saturday if needed. In my previous post, I started thinking about the more aesthetic, medical side to fasting and detox spas, but have since been drawn towards fasting as political action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been ideating about famine versus fasting versus hunger strikes. I am also interested in how countries that have experienced famine respond differently to hunger strikes due to a sense of responsibility held by the government to nourish their people. My brainstorming, which is outlined below, eventually led me to the idea of female hunger. I am seeking to understand the international and imperial networks inspiring women\u2019s hunger strikes staged in different time periods and national contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m interested in hunger strikes in postcolonial states and their imperial legacies. I\u2019ve found literature on imperial Britain \u2013 connections of fasting in England, Ireland, India; connections between Russian methods on British suffragettes, and more recent civil rights movements in India and the United States. I do hope to expand beyond the British empire, but that is where I have found the most literature so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m hoping to understand intentions. What\u2019s interesting about hunger strikes in recent history is more widespread media, and therefore more access to first-hand accounts and interviews with these activists. Hearing their intentions behind the political action, what might have inspired them, and even the language they use and finding connections between that vocabulary and previous movements \u2013 will help me trace cross-cultural interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all the literature I\u2019ve encountered so far, women\u2019s fasting and looking at famine through a gendered lens is always a chapter or footnote. There are really interesting references that are casually explained and moved on from that I\u2019d love to dig deeper into. For example, Kevin Grant mentions fasting as a \u2018feminine\u2019 form of bodily protest, versus a male capability to resist authority with force. He went on to discuss how a modern liberal government and publicity of a modern, uncensored media led to successful hunger strikes in the British empire, but not so much in imperial Russia. This made me think about government systems and how their ethos affects forms of political action and the success of hunger strikes. I want to look more at the gender theory behind this political action, and the subconscious associations it might hold in our minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though my focus will eventually narrow, I do not want to solely research the role of fasting in suffragette movements. There are recent events, such as Swati Maliwal\u2019s hunger strikes as demands for justice in response to India\u2019s rape crisis, and racial justice activists in the United States protesting the death of Breonna Taylor. I think it is important to look at the nuances of female hunger in recent decades. Moving forward in time will also allow me to question how changing attitudes towards women\u2019s agency and bodies affect their political motives, methods, and success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contemporary India, hunger protest is a female-dominated affair. I\u2019m curious about how their participation has evolved from the nationalist hunger strikes. In a review of Grant\u2019s book, Dr. Aidan Forth asks \u2018How might the feminist tactics of early suffragettes have inspired the activist Swati Maliwal\u2019s 2019 hunger strike against Indian rape laws?\u2019 These are the types of questions I want to ask, finding connections between cultures and over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To conclude, my research is in its early stages, but I\u2019ve finally stumbled upon a subject I feel excited about and believe there will be a wealth of sources, versus my original topic where research was spare. The texts I am looking at so far are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sumita Mukherjee: Indian Suffragettes, Female Identities and Transnational Networks<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kevin Grant: Last Weapons, Hunger Strikes and Fasts in the British Empire, 1890-1948<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nayan Shah: Refusal to Eat, A Century of Prison Hunger Strikes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am also reading articles on medico-historical overviews of fasting, and really trying to understand the macro context as I dive into the more specific, women\u2019s experience and action involved with hunger strikes. Hopefully, I will be able to find good primary sources in government reports, political manifestos, published periodicals, and even oral interviews with these women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please let me know if you have any reading suggestions or topics to investigate! I am working this week on narrowing my scope and forming more concrete questions before turning in my proposal and meeting on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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