Twinning for solidarity: building affective communities in the aftermath of the Nicaraguan Revolution

In the British popular imagination, ‘twinning’ is perhaps most commonly associated with mayoral delegations, civic ceremonies and the post-war peacebuilding project in Europe. However, the model and practice of twinning has also been utilised to develop an impressive array of political, economic and cultural relationships that connect geographically remote communities and institutions all across the globe. Among these relationships are a number of twinnings that have emerged as a part of wider movements to extend political solidarity to peoples and communities facing forms of tyranny and persecution. Despite the renewed interest in the politics and practice of solidarity, ‘twinning for solidarity’ has been scarcely addressed in academic research to date. This paper seeks to redirect the scholarly gaze towards this phenomenon by taking a closer look at transnational relationships that were forged across British and Nicaraguan localities in the aftermath of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution. Building on an empirical base of research undertaken over 3 years, it promises to (a) trace why and how ‘twinning’ emerged within the broader repertoire of solidarity initiatives at this time; and (b) explore just what twinning has and might yet achieve in the particular context of political solidarity.