The Darjeeling Distinction, 47: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India (California Studies in Food and Culture)

📘 Book Details

• Title: The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India

• Author: Sarah Besky

• Publisher: University of California Press

• Edition: First Edition

• Release Date: 23 November 2013

• Language: English

• Binding: Paperback

• EAN: 9780520277397

• Package Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches

📖 About The Book

Nestled in the scenic Himalayan foothills of Northeast India, Darjeeling is renowned for its high-quality tea, a luxury commodity that graces the tables of connoisseurs worldwide. However, Darjeeling is also a region marked by a long history of political strife, with a violent movement for regional autonomy deeply intertwined with its colonial past. In The Darjeeling Distinction, Sarah Besky provides a nuanced ethnographic account of the tea workers in the region, examining their lives, struggles, and the broader forces that shape their experiences.

Besky’s work is the first to critically explore how fair-trade practices have evolved in the context of large-scale tea plantations. Through her in-depth study, the book uncovers the shifting notions of fairness, value, and justice that have emerged with the rise of fair-trade practices and the growth of postcolonial separatist politics in Darjeeling. As the region struggles to balance its colonial legacy with the modern demands of global trade, The Darjeeling Distinction challenges conventional fair-trade policies and practices, highlighting their limitations in addressing the complex social, political, and environmental forces at play.

Through this ethnography, readers are given a critical perspective on the changing nature of plantation life, especially as Darjeeling attempts to reinvent its prized commodity for the twenty-first century. The book delves into how fair-trade initiatives often overlook larger historical, environmental, and sociopolitical realities, and how these factors continue to shape the lives of the very people the trade initiatives aim to support.

This groundbreaking work will be of immense value to scholars and readers across multiple disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, geography, environmental studies, and food studies. It offers new insights into the world of global trade, labor, and justice, while providing a deeply human perspective on the lives of the workers who produce some of the world’s finest tea. The Darjeeling Distinction ultimately serves as a call to rethink how we understand and engage with fair-trade practices in an ever-globalizing world.