We are flames not flowers-: a gendered reading of the social movement for justice in Bhopal
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Date
2011-11Author
Scandrett, Eurig
Mukherjee, Suroopa
Team, Bhopal Research
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Scandrett, E., Mukherjee, S. & Team, B. (2011-11) We are flames not flowers-: a gendered reading of
the social movement for justice in Bhopal, Interface: a journal for and about social movements, vol. 3, pp. 100-122.
Abstract
This essay is in continuation of the article that Eurig Scandrett and I wrote for
the previous issue of Interface (Scandrett and Mukherjee 2011). It looks at
gender as one of the abstractions that arises from the material condition of the
industrial disaster in Bhopal that happened on 3 December 1984, which is
often compared to Hiroshima, in the nature of its destruction. Bhopal has also
witnessed a grassroots movement, remarkable in its tenacity and its welldefined
battle-line against the monolithic power of the State and the
Corporation. The survivors' organisations present two interrelated profiles for
the movement. One is local and includes a large section of women, who are
illiterate and bound by patriarchy. The other is the international face of the
movement.
This essay looks at the role played by women in the movement. At the same
time, oral history methodology highlights the vision of a gender sensitive
world, which is alien to the material conditions these women live in. While
academically we can bring in feminist readings, they do not serve the purpose
of relating to women's consciousness and how they visualize their own
emancipation. This essay looks at gender as a problematic category that needs
redefinition.