Paper details

Paper authors	Elisabeth Olivius
In panel on	Transitory Spaces and Insurgent Citizenship Practices: Refugee and Migrant Activists as Humanitarian and Political Actors
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

This paper examines insurgent citizenship practices employed by activists in the Burmese women’s movement from the 1990s and onwards. The Burmese women’s movement was formed in the borderlands surrounding Myanmar in the shadow of civil war and military rule. Consisting of political exiles, refugees and ethnic insurgents, this movement has successfully used the transnational, transitory space of the border to constitute themselves as political subjects with legitimate claims to rights, citizenship and leadership. Drawing on interviews and documentary sources, this analysis interrogates women’s activism through the lens of insurgent citizenship practices. From a position of precarious exile, how have Burmese women’s activists claimed rights and lived citizenship? Three strategies are examined: firstly, women have claimed rights and constructed themselves as political subjects through engagement with international norms and arenas. Secondly, they have claimed citizenship and political influence in oppositional nation-making projects through engaging with and negotiating ethno-nationalist armed struggles. Thirdly, they have positioned themselves as political actors and authorities through involvement in governance and humanitarian aid delivery in refugee and IDP camps, contesting international humanitarian agendas. Exploring women’s insurgent citizenship practices in exile, the analysis provides new insights into the gendered dynamics and effects of conflict-generated migration and diasporic politics.

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