Grassroots Security: The Meira Paibi Movement and the Intersection of Gender, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Manipur
Issued Date
2026-03-12
Resource Type
eISSN
21491291
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-105033034068
Journal Title
Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies
Volume
13
Issue
2
Start Page
98
End Page
116
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies Vol.13 No.2 (2026) , 98-116
Suggested Citation
Saisin A., Chaisingkananont S. Grassroots Security: The Meira Paibi Movement and the Intersection of Gender, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Manipur. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies Vol.13 No.2 (2026) , 98-116. 116. doi:10.29333/ejecs/2656 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/115850
Title
Grassroots Security: The Meira Paibi Movement and the Intersection of Gender, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Manipur
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Author's Affiliation
Corresponding Author(s)
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Abstract
This article explores the Meira Paibi movement in Manipur, India, as a vital site of grassroots women’s activism operating within a militarized and ethnically contested landscape. Drawing on feminist security studies, intersectionality, and securitization theory, it examines how Meitei women redefine security through everyday acts of resistance, moral regulation, and community care. Originating in the late 1970s, the Meira Paibi or “women torchbearers” have evolved into informal agents of justice, patrolling streets, confronting state violence, and upholding social norms. Using a documentary-based methodology, this study analyzes how the Meira Paibi challenge dominant security discourses and engage in counter-securitizing acts, exemplified by the 2004 naked protest custodial violence. Their activism blurs boundaries between public and private, and resistance and regulation, exposing the embodied and relational dimensions of grassroots security. Yet the movement is not without contradictions: while confronting militarized patriarchy and challenging the state, their exercise of moral authority often reinforces maternalistic authority, moral conservatism, and community-level biopolitical regulation. By situating Meira Paibi within critical feminist and security frameworks, the article contributes to broader debates on gendered resistance, informal governance, and localized peacebuilding, arguing that women’s agency in conflict zones must be understood through a nuanced lens that embraces both their emancipatory potential and their internal tensions.