Activism and Agency in India: Nurturing Resistance in the Tea Plantations

Description

During the period 2000 to 2010, tea plantations in India experienced a crisis and were at the threshold of transformation, framed by conflict and turbulence. This book is an interdisciplinary and intersectional work examining the nature of victimhood and agency among women workers on tea plantations in North Bengal, India. The author views tea plantations as social spaces, rather than only economic units of production. Focusing on the lived experiences of the workers from the perspective of their multiple identities, the author uses the everyday as the entry point for understanding the exercise of agency, the negotiation of different spaces, gender roles and norms therein, as well as acts of protest. Agency and its relation to space are seen as continuums: from their everyday, hidden forms to the more overt and spectacular; from conformity and endurance to challenge and protest. Offering an understanding of the gendered nature of space and labour, this book examines the post-crisis period by mapping the workers’ narratives about their lived experiences and struggles in the times of economic, political and social tumult in the tea plantations of northern West Bengal. It will be of interest to an interdisciplinary audience interested in Development Studies, Gender Studies, South Asian Studies, Social Activism and Labour Studies. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Table of Contents......Page 8 List of illustrations......Page 9 Foreword......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 12 List of Acronyms......Page 15 1 Introduction......Page 18 2 Intersectionality, labour and agency: theoretical paradigms......Page 34 3 Scene setting......Page 60 4 Identity and belonging through the lens of intersectionality......Page 81 5 Understanding the plantations within a gendered space......Page 110 6 Understanding the plantation as a gendered space......Page 125 7 Understanding agency......Page 153 8 Understanding everyday activism......Page 176 9 Conclusion......Page 200 Appendix......Page 211 Glossary......Page 215 Index......Page 217