Unravelling Trajectories of Silence and Dominance

The discovery of tea in Assam and the growth of tea plantation as commercial commodity have added a new dimension in the socio-economic landscape of Assam. The establishment of the tea industry in Assam, in which the British had monopoly, reflected the imperial mastery over colonial land and its inhabitants. The new industrial setup by the British transformed not only the economy but altered the whole demography of Assam as shown by the biggest human migration in Indian history in search of labour for tea plantations. The book under review  consists of 25 well-researched papers that present various aspects of Assam tea plantation labour, emphasizing on the context and growth of tea as a product of British East India Company; the migration history of tea labour; further creation of political and cultural identity of migrant tea workers; and most importantly, gender perspective studies on women tea garden labourers as a contemporary phenomenon.