A history of the colonial tea plantation regime in Assam, which brought more than one million migrants to the region in northeast India, irrevocably changing the social landscape.

Preface xi
Note on Orthography and Usage xiv
Introduction 1
Part I. Making a Garden 23
1. Nature's Jungle, Empire's Garden 25
2. Borderlands, Rice Eaters, and Tea Growers 49
3. Migrants in the Garden: Expanding the Frontier 79
Part II. Improving Assam, Making India 117
4. Old Lords and "Improving" Regimes 119
5. Bringing Progress, Restoring Culture 147
6. Language and Literature: Framing Identity 177
7. Contesting Publics: Raced Communities and Gendered History 205
Conclusion 234
Notes 243
Glossary 273
Bibliography 277
Index 311

Jayeeta Sharma is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Toronto.