Muslim Grandmothers of the Shaheen Bagh Movement and their Radical Performance of Care

Alisha Ibkar (University of Manchester)

8th May 2024, 2pm

Roxby Building, 6th Floor Conference Room

My talk takes up the historic Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests of 2019 led by the elderly muslim women of Shaheen Bagh and looks at it through the lens of care ethics and performance. The dadis (grandmothers) of Shaheen Bagh drew on their experience of caregiving and  nurture to create a unique repertoire of protest strategies where in care played a central role, both as a representative human practice and a form of political expression, and in the process offered a radical reimagination of feminist protests organising and performance. I elucidate how the dadis of Shaheen Bagh did not only make possible a novel narrative of careful political resistance, but also demonstrated how the everyday practice of undervalued maternal care can be a legitimate response and lesson in careful governance for the State that is largely uncaring towards its disenfranchised population.

Part of the Seminar Series “Transformations in Land, Labour, and Meaning in South Asia” organised by the Power, Space, and Cultural Change Cluster, Department of Geography and Planning.