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Choosing the Gorkha: at the crossroads of class and ethnicity in the Darjeeling hills

Choosing the Gorkha: at the crossroads of class and ethnicity in the Darjeeling hills The Darjeeling hills in northern West Bengal, India are being demanded as a homeland for the Gorkha community living in India. While the origin of Darjeeling is steeped in the imperial legacy of the British Raj, the Gorkha, a colonial construct is ironically used as a means to challenge the contemporary political regression and neo-colonisation of Darjeeling. Although the Gorkha identity is deemed as representative of the Nepali community residing in India, it acquires special meaning and importance in the Darjeeling hills, where majority of the people suffer low wages, unemployment, underdevelopment and poverty. In spite of a large working force in the tea estates, economic underdevelopment and political disempowerment is voiced through the assertion of ethnic rather than a class-based identity. Through an examination of the interaction between class and ethnicity, the Gorkha identity will highlight the malleability of ethnicity to extend itself to any situation and the emergence of an ethnic identity from class relations and grievances. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Asian Ethnicity Taylor & Francis

Choosing the Gorkha: at the crossroads of class and ethnicity in the Darjeeling hills

Chettri, Mona
Asian Ethnicity , Volume 14 (3): 16 – Jun 1, 2013
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Choosing the Gorkha: at the crossroads of class and ethnicity in the Darjeeling hills

Abstract

The Darjeeling hills in northern West Bengal, India are being demanded as a homeland for the Gorkha community living in India. While the origin of Darjeeling is steeped in the imperial legacy of the British Raj, the Gorkha, a colonial construct is ironically used as a means to challenge the contemporary political regression and neo-colonisation of Darjeeling. Although the Gorkha identity is deemed as representative of the Nepali community residing in India, it acquires special meaning and...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
ISSN
1469-2953
eISSN
1463-1369
DOI
10.1080/14631369.2013.764763
Publisher site
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Abstract

The Darjeeling hills in northern West Bengal, India are being demanded as a homeland for the Gorkha community living in India. While the origin of Darjeeling is steeped in the imperial legacy of the British Raj, the Gorkha, a colonial construct is ironically used as a means to challenge the contemporary political regression and neo-colonisation of Darjeeling. Although the Gorkha identity is deemed as representative of the Nepali community residing in India, it acquires special meaning and importance in the Darjeeling hills, where majority of the people suffer low wages, unemployment, underdevelopment and poverty. In spite of a large working force in the tea estates, economic underdevelopment and political disempowerment is voiced through the assertion of ethnic rather than a class-based identity. Through an examination of the interaction between class and ethnicity, the Gorkha identity will highlight the malleability of ethnicity to extend itself to any situation and the emergence of an ethnic identity from class relations and grievances.

Journal

Asian Ethnicity – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jun 1, 2013

Keywords: ethnicity; colonisation; class; state; politics

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