‘We need to find the rhythm of life’: Familial afterlives of revolutionary struggle

Family as a social institution and realm of affective relations is targeted in war by states and armed groups, generating significant affective and material legacies (Cohn, 2013; Hedström 2025). This paper aims to explores ‘afterlives’ of revolutionary war (Wilson, 2023) via centering parenthood and parental ties. Feminist theorisation of ‘post-war’ as a moment of heightened contestation of gendered power relations is well-established, including how women ex-fighters are expected to ‘return’ and take on social reproductive labour within the family (Meintjes et al. 2001; MacKenzie, 2012). However, the question of familial ties and how these ties intersect with political subjectivities remains under-theorised. To address this gap, the paper asks: how might being a parent constitute a site of contestation and reproduction of revolutionary values in the longer aftermaths of war? The paper conceptualises a dynamic relationship between familial ties and war – examining how forms of parental ties might emerge through war as well as be transformed by it (Ketola and O’Reilly, 2025). This dynamic framing builds on feminist theories of relationality of violence (e.g. Das, 2006; Baines, 2016) and family as militarised (Enloe 2000; Hedström 2020) and allows the paper to ask new questions about familial afterlives of war. The paper explores this in the context of the Maoist ‘People’s War’ (1996-2006) in Nepal, centering stories of people who participated in the Maoist movement as whole-time cadres, living undergroud. The ‘People’s War’ is a highly relevant case, as the restructuring of the institution of family was central to the Maoist vision of building ‘New Nepal’, geared towards ending caste discrimination and instituting gender equality (Riley, 2021). Specific Maoist policies, such as ‘revolutionary marriage’, have complex legacies in a context where the former rebel party has entered parliamentary politics, yet a broader societal transformation remains to be attained (Zharkevich, 2019; Giri, 2023). By delving deep into the stories of the whole-time cadres, the paper offers new insights into how practices of parenting can become a significant site where revolutionary struggle continues to be embodied and possibly sustained.