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Nurturing Resistance: Agency and Activism of Women Tea Plantation Workers in a Gendered Space Supurna Banerjee PhD Sociology The University of Edinburgh 2014 Declaration of Originality This thesis is my own work unless indicated otherwise. The work has not been published either in part or in full. ii Abstract This thesis offers an analysis of labour relations and social space in the tea gardens of north-east India. Existing literature provides us with an understanding of how the plantations operate as economic spaces, but in so doing they treat workers as undifferentiated economic beings defined only by their class identity. Space, however, has to be animated to be meaningful. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews I explore the plantations as actual lived spaces where people are bound by and resist constraints. Multiple intersecting identities play out within these social spaces making them ethnic, religious, and caste spaces in addition to being gendered. Focusing on these intersectional identities, I demonstrate how region, ethnicity, party affiliation, caste, religion are played out and how they are invoked at certain points by the women workers. The articulations of identity not only determine a sense of belonging or non-belonging to a space but also how one belongs. Within the physical sites of the plantation, I examine how the women perceive these spaces and how, in moving between ideas of home/world, public/private, these very binaries are negated. The strict sexual division of labour primarily in the workplace but also in the household and villages inscribe the physical sites with certain gendered meanings and performances. The women negotiate these in their everyday lives and shape these spaces even as they are shaped by them. Conditioned by gender norms and the resultant hierarchy their narratives can be read as stories of deprivation and misery, but looking deeper their agency can also be uncovered. The lives of my research participants show how the social spaces within which they operate are not static; in spite of spatial iii controls there are the many minute acts of resistance through which the women work the existing restraints to their least disadvantage. Focussing on the minute acts of insubordination, deceit and even confrontation I elucidate how the women made use of the relations of subordination to pave spaces of resistance and sometimes even of autonomy. Furthermore, not all acts of agency are minute or unspectacular. I map instances of highly visible, volatile and aggressive protests apparently challenging the accepted social codes within which they function. In expressing themselves, the women use the available political repertories of protest in forms of strikes, blockades, street plays, etc. Through these instances of activism they appropriate and become visible in the public realm and challenge the accepted ways in which social spaces and norms play out. Despite their articulate nature, these protests usually seek to address immediate demands and do not escalate into social movements. Also while volatile in action, the protests seek legitimacy within the accepted gender codes that operate in their everyday life in the plantation. iv Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisors Roger Jeffery and Hugo Gorringe for their constant guidance, pushing me to explore new ideas and steadying me when I was skidding off too fast. Without their encouragement and support over and above the call of duty this PhD would not have been possible. I remember with gratitude Prof Satyabrata Chakroborty for spending time discussing and looking through the research proposal so that I could embark on this journey and also for providing me with contacts in North Bengal, which made access much easier. Many thanks to Prof Sobhanlal Dattagupta for inspiring me to pursue a PhD. Comments from my Board examiners Angus Bancroft and Betsy Olsen were very helpful in preparing me for my fieldwork. Lotte Hoek’s feedback on various chapters provided a fresh perspective when I was stuck. Comments, suggestions and feedback from Patricia Jeffery, Crispin Bates, Liz Stanley were invaluable at various stages of the PhD. A special thanks to Crispin for helping out in times of financial difficulties. I thank the College of Humanities and Social Science and Scottish Overseas Research Scholarship for providing me with funding. I also thank JN Tata Endowment Fund, Charles Wallace India Trust, Gilchrist Educational Fund, British Sociological Association, Edinburgh University Student Association, Roger and Sarah Bancroft Trust and University of Edinburgh’s Centre for South Asian Studies and Department of Sociology for their timely financial help. Many thanks to Edinburgh India Institute for providing me with a job when I most needed it. A special thanks to Sue Renton and Liz Reilly for their help and ready smile while guiding me through the complicated university regulations. The librarians in West Bengal Bureau of Statistics, Tea Board of India library and National Library of Scotland have shared their vast v knowledge with me and did their best to help me to get all the information I need. I thank them all. My father took care of all logistics and other needs so that I could concentrate on my PhD. My mother tirelessly read through drafts, editing them and providing me with invaluable insights. Without my parents’ unwavering love, encouragement and support completing this PhD would not have been possible. Thanks to Sagnik for keeping me loved and sane through the process and adjusting to all the tough times with a smile so that I could have a smooth sailing. Thanks to Tins and Ahana for providing me with a break just when I needed it. I thank all my family and friends in India for their enthusiasm, support and encouragement through four long years of the PhD. Many thanks to my Edinburgh family Debbie, Vinu, Feyza, Jo, Sarah, Anindya and Clare for sharing, caring and always being there. They made Edinburgh a happy home for me. Thanks also to office mates, friends and colleagues Victoria, Ting, Stewart, Nina, Emel, Adi, Richard, Lotte, Unai, Martin, Maddie, I Lin, Sean, Jan, Sarah, Tristan, Laura and Beginda for the collective despairing, welcome breaks and useful comments. The process of the PhD would have been much less enjoyable without Prerona, Kristine, Sharmini, Hasan, Miriam and Irantzu to drag me out at various stages of my work. Many thanks to Parthsarathi Sengupta for sharing his formidable knowledge of labour laws with me and giving me an open access to his priceless collection of legal books so that I can have a better understanding. Ani was invaluable in helping out every time I needed technical assistance. Without Rajen Pradhan, Parthsarathi Chaudhuri, Bhaskar Nandi and Swadhikar’s help making contacts and getting access would have been impossible. I extend my thanks to them. Thanks to Mr. Arora for providing me with all the necessary permission to carry on my fieldwork smoothly. My fieldwork would have been so much more difficult without Dilip uncle and Baby auntie’s love and care. Many vi thanks to Diwakar uncle and his family for opening their house and heart to me during fieldwork, to Amui, one of the most remarkable women I have met and Shankar for his constant logistical support. Diksha and Naina welcomed me into their home like family and time spent with them helped me tide over many difficult times in the field. The staff at Kaalka, most importantly Bochon babu, provided all possible assistance. Muskan and Sushma’s friendship made fieldwork so much more enjoyable and enriching. But most importantly this thesis is for, of and because of the women of the tea plantations who willingly shared those 15 months of their lives with me. It is their story, their voice which forms the basis of my PhD and no written word will be able to express my gratitude to them for everything that they did to make this thesis possible. vii viii Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgments v Glossary and Acronyms xv Maps xxi Chapter 1 Introduction ‘When survival is a struggle, you learn’ 1 Why this research? 3 Situating the research 4 Structure of the thesis 7 Conclusion 10 Chapter 2 Review of Literature ‘It was the British who brought us here’ 13 General history of the plantation system 14 Tea Plantation system in India 17 History of Dooars tea plantations 20 Features of plantation labour 26 Gaps in the literature 27 Inadequacy of class analysis: an intersectional approach 29 Gender relations 32 Gender relation of labour 33 Embodiment 37 Agency 39 Themes tying the research together 43 Social space 43 Mapping the everyday 44 Conclusion 47 Chapter