“The hearth … is the center of family life and the central structural feature of the house” (p. 36).
In her acknowledgments, Judith Pettigrew tells us that a friend refers to her as “the lady with the war stories,” as the University of Limerick–based scholar has conducted ethnographic research in Nepal for more than twenty years, the last fifteen dedicated to understanding the effects of the Maoist conflict. Her book Maoists at the Hearth reads like a memoir, drawing us in, encouraging us to sit with her at a figurative hearth as she vividly recounts the experiences of rural families affected by war. Pettigrew presents stories of life before, during, and after Nepal's “People's War” (1996–2006) through an everyday lens: a group of politically nonaligned, mostly middle-aged and elderly, middle-income women in a predominately Tamu village in central Nepal. She focuses on how the war reshaped social relationships and cultural...
