How contentious repertoires travel: pioneering hunger strikes as resistance in late colonial Burma

This article traces the introduction of hunger strikes into the contentious politics of late colonial Burma. Building on a critical reading of British archival records, it reveals how colonial authorities in Rangoon observed and interpreted the nascent dissemination of this tactical repertoire within the Burmese province. The study highlights three key findings. First, it points to the pivotal role of pioneering brokers, particularly well-travelled Buddhist monks familiar with foreign protest techniques. Second, hunger strikes performed by Indian nationalists imprisoned in Burma further propagated such tactics, underscoring the influence of Indian contentious politics on the diffusion of protest repertoires into Burma during the 1920s and 1930s. Third, the article explores global interactions and movement networks beyond British India, noting the inspiration Burmese anticolonial activists drew from Irish republican fast-to-death protest strategies in the 1920s. These findings enhance our understanding of how contentious repertoires could travel in the age of empire, providing insights into the resources, channels and narratives that facilitated the adoption and translation of new protest methods in British Burma.
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