Tea Plantations and Socio-Cultural Transformation: The Case of Assam (India)

Abstract

The tea plantations of Assam, which constitute the country's 53.97 per cent tea area, 49 per cent tea worker population, and 52.04 per cent tea production, occupy an important place in the economy, culture and polity of the state. The onset of tea plantations during British colonial rule has not only changed the landscape of the upper Brahmaputra valley through green tea bushes being nourished by tea tribes from east-central India, but also evolved a distinct tea culture. Although formation of small tea growers has added a new dimension to the growth of tea industry of Assam in recent times, the culture that emerged due to the long continued interaction of British planters, tea worker tribes and indigenous Assamese is well reflected in the language, way of life, work culture, food habits and many other socio-cultural practices in most of the large tea estates in the state. In fact, the impact of tea culture is so penetrative that it has been able to bring about development in the form of tea festival, tea tourism, tea folk songs and dances, etc. in the state. An attempt is made in this paper to explore the role of tea plantation and the people associated with it to the socio-cultural transformation of Assam based on both secondary data and primary data through field study. The primary data have been collected from selected tea estates, tea garden worker colonies, tea-tribe villages and urban dwellers.

Witch-Hunting in Assam: Myth or Reality

“…Adivasis mostly resides in the tea gardens of Assam (Magar & Kar, 2016). Although collectively known as Adivasi there are different sections among them having unique rights, rituals, and traditions.…”

Bridging tea with tourism: empirical evidence from India and Sri Lanka

“…Therefore, tourism researchers explored several frameworks, identified measures, and developed new applicable models (Medina-Muñoz et al , 2003; Abreu-Novais et al , 2016). Several studies have been conducted on different aspects of TT, such as challenges and threats, visitors’ and stakeholders’ perceptions and attitudes, tea heritage, sociocultural and socioeconomic development, branding and promotions, sustainability, well-being, and health (Aslam and Jolliffe, 2015; Bennike, 2017; Cheng et al , 2010; Cheng et al , 2012; Joliffe and Aslam, 2009; Lin and Wen, 2018; Magar and Kar, 2016; Mondal and Samaddar, 2021; Ranasinghe et al , 2017; Su et al , 2019a, 2019b; Su and Zhang, 2020; Weber, 2018). All the above studies have focused on a different niche segment of TT like growth and development, opportunities and challenges and economic and sociocultural benefits because of visitors, residents and stakeholders; however, they significantly miss the global acceptance, competitive advantage and comparativeness of TT at international level (Cheng et al , 2010; Thimm and Karlaganis, 2020).…”

Exploring the current issues, challenges and opportunities in tea tourism: a morphological analysis

“…Tea tourism being an “alternate form” of tourism is also recognised as a tool of socio-economic development (Su et al , 2019a, 2019b). It has not only promoted social connectivity and cultural heritage but also uplifted rural economy with social and infrastructural developments (Magar and Kar, 2016), increased revenue generation and played a key role in destination image building (Casalegno et al , 2020). Despite the positive contribution, researchers argue that tea tourism has failed in revitalising the local economy towards sustainable development because of poor policy planning and mismanagement (Bandara, 2003; Joliffe and Aslam, 2009).…”