Darjeeling Reconsidered

Histories, Politics, Environments

Inbunden, Engelska, 2018

AvTownsend Middleton,Sara Shneiderman,USA) Middleton, Townsend (, Department of Anthropology and School of Public Policy & Global Affairs/Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia, Durham, New Castle,Canada) Shneiderman, Sara (, Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vancouver

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Darjeeling occupies a special place in the South Asian imaginary. With its Himalayan vistas, lush tea gardens, and brisk mountain air, Darjeeling was the consummate colonial hill-station. The romance with the "queen of the hills" lives on, as thousands of tourists (domestic and international) annually flock to the hills to taste its world-renowned tea, soak up the colonial nostalgia, and glimpse mighty Mount Kanchenjunga. Darjeeling's fame has now gone global and its legacy continues to fuel Hollywood and Bollywood fantasies. But this is only part of Darjeeling's story. Darjeeling Reconsidered provocatively rethinks Darjeeling's legendary status in the postcolonial imagination. Mobilizing diverse disciplinary approaches from the social sciences and humanities, this definitive collection of essays sheds fresh light on the region's past and offers critical insight into the issues facing its people today. The historical analyses break with hackneyed colonial accounts to provide alternative readings of systems of governance, labour, and migration that shaped Darjeeling. The ethnographic chapters present cutting-edge accounts of dynamics that define life in 21st century Darjeeling: among them the realpolitik of subnationalism; Fair Trade tea; indigenous struggle; gendered inequality; ecological transformation; and resource scarcity. Through these eye-opening perspectives, Darjeeling Reconsidered figures Darjeeling as a vital site for South Asian and Postcolonial Studies-and calls for a timely re-examination of the legend and hard-realities of this oft-romanticized region and its people. The book seeks a place on the shelves of postcolonial theorists, on the syllabi of undergraduate and graduate courses on South Asia, and in the rucksacks of intellectually curious visitors from all over the world to Darjeeling.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2018-07-19
Mått148 x 212 x 25 mm
Vikt488 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor312
FörlagOUP India
ISBN9780199483556

Tillhör följande kategorier

Socialhistoria och kulturhistoria inom Historia och arkeologi
Asiens historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Antropologi inom Samhalle och politik
Sociologi inom Samhalle och politik

DedicationAcknowledgements Acronyms and Abbreviations Note on Language Introduction: Reconsidering Darjeeling Sara Shneiderman & Townsend Middleton Section I. Histories of Exception1. Unwritten Histories: Difference, Capital, and the Darjeeling Exception Townsend Middleton 2. 'A Summer Place': Darjeeling in the Tourist Gaze Rune Bennike 3. Himalayan Darjeeling and Mountain Histories of Labour and Mobility Jayeeta Sharma Section II. Politics and Social Movements4. Electoral Competition and the Gorkhaland Movement Bethany Lacina 5. Virtuous Movements and Dirty Politics: The Art of Camouflage in Darjeeling Miriam Wenner 6. The Rowdies of Darjeeling: Politics and Underdevelopment in the Hills Mona Chettri 7. The Quest to Belong and Become: Ethnic Associations and Changing Trajectories of Ethnopolitics in DarjeelingNilamber Chhetri 8. The Promise of Class Analysis in Understanding Nepali National Identity in Darjeeling: An Engagement with Kumar Pradhan's Work and ThoughtSwatahsiddha Sarkar & Babika Khawas Section III. Environments and Labour9. Subnational Occupations: A Year in the Life of the Darjeeling Tea Management Training Centre Sarah Besky 10. Connection Amidst Disconnection: Water Struggles, Social Structures, and Geographies of Exclusion in DarjeelingGeorgina Drew & Roshan P. Rai 11. Women, Fair Trade Tea, and Everyday Entrepreneurialism in Rural Darjeeling Debarati Sen Afterword Tanka Subba Glossary Bibliography IndexAbout the Editors and Contributors

Darjeeling Reconsidered is an essential and timely book on a place of special significance in Northeast India. The essays within question the longstanding colonial and tourist romance surrounding the 'Queen of the Hills,' and examine the political, social, environmental, and labour movements that shape its contemporary life. With this collection, Townsend Middleton and Sara Shneiderman upend outdated myths in favour of rigorous new scholarship. The reader is left with a portrait of Darjeeling that is as complex and dynamic as it is intricate.