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VOL. 12, ISSUE 2 (2026)
Voices from the plantations: Folk songs as narratives of the tea plantation workers’ migration in colonial Assam
Authors
Dr. Biraj Jyoti Kalita, Mriganka Das
Abstract
The tea workers, who
mainly brought from economically distressed regions of Chotanagpur, Orissa,
Bengal, Bihar and Central India under the cohesive recruitment system during
the 19th and early 20th centuries, have a rich tradition
of folk songs that preserve their migration history to Assam’s plantations. It
is noteworthy that the migration history of Assam’s tea workers cannot be fully
understood only through the archival and official records. In fact, folk songs
offer an alternative oral source, which reveals everyday experiences of the tea
plantation workers in the plantation environment of Assam. These folk songs of
tea workers narrate their migration journey from the native land to Assam and
their economic hardship within the colonial plantation system. Methodologically,
this study seeks to reconstruct the history of tea workers’ migration - focusing
on recruitment of workers, collective sufferings of workers and labour life on
plantations.
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Pages:46-49
How to cite this article:
Dr. Biraj Jyoti Kalita, Mriganka Das "Voices from the plantations: Folk songs as narratives of the tea plantation workers’ migration in colonial Assam". International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research, Vol 12, Issue 2, 2026, Pages 46-49
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