The Woman Rebel and the State: Making War, Making Peace in Assam

This ethnographic study of the female insurgent and her journey back from camp to the community discusses the encounter between women rebels who get trapped between the state and the organisation. Even as these former combatants cope with the messy politics of disengaging from the outfit that continues to patronise them, it does not always redress their needs and grievances in post-conflict rehabilitation. This article examines the former rebel's possible foray into peace-making and the legal/juridical and social impasses in the matter of her rehabilitation and reintegration into civil life. It also exposes the shrinking democratic space available to these former rebels who negotiate the tricky path beyond conflict.