Reading ( The imperial weight of tea on the politcs of plant, plantation and science)

 In “The Imperial Weight of Tea,” Bengt G. Karlsson examines how British colonialism used science, labor control, and environmental domination to transform tea into a global commodity. Focusing on tea plantations in Assam, he reveals how these landscapes were engineered through racialized labor systems and scientific knowledge that served imperial interests. The article highlights how the plantations disrupted local ecologies, displaced Indigenous communities, and imposed monocultures that led to long-term environmental harm. Karlsson argues that the legacy of these systems shaped by power, exploitation, and ecological simplification continues to affect the region today, making tea a symbol of ongoing colonial entanglements in both nature and society.

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