• Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Labor on the Line: Justice at Work on Assam Tea Plantations

Labor on the Line: Justice at Work on Assam Tea Plantations

Hardcover

AnthropologySocial Movements

ISBN10: 150178336X
ISBN13: 9781501783364
Publisher: ILR Press
Published: Oct 15 2025
Pages: 150
Weight: 0.82
Height: 0.50 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

Labor on the Line provides insights into the world's largest tea-growing region of Assam. Anna-Lena Wolf examines everyday conceptualizations of justice: how they emerge, become prevalent, transform, and are negotiated by differently positioned actors on Assam's tea plantations. Academics and activists have criticized the conditions on these plantations as a form of bondage, arguing that the persistence of a colonial wage structure--characterized by low cash wages supplemented with in-kind benefits--reinforces laborers' dependence on plantations. But Wolf shows that there is more to the story. Tea plantation laborers and trade unionists formed surprising alliances with managers and plantation owners based on everyday conceptions of justice. All involved favored the old-style plantation at a time when fundamental changes were appearing in the political economy of tea production.

Also from

Wolf, Anna-Lena

Also in

Social Movements