Forced Fallow Fields: Making Meaningful Life in the Myanmar Spring Revolution

Abstract

Women’s everyday work is critical to revolutionary projects yet is often written out of war stories. This article draws on a participatory photography project with rural women in Myanmar to show how, in the face of extensive violence, women’s productive and social reproductive labour sustains both individual households and revolutionary projects writ-large. We highlight the everyday acts of love and labour that generate affective and productive ties to rural landscapes, enabling people to endure violence and imagine a better future. Our work shows how making meaningful life has become both more difficult and more urgent during the Myanmar Spring Revolution.