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Nomadic capital and speculative tribes: A culture of contracts in the Northeastern Frontier of British India

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  • Bodhisattva Kar

    (University of Cape Town)

Abstract

The least-garrisoned, least-mapped and formally least-administered ‘tribal frontier’ in the northeast was also the most capitalised one in the British Indian empire. In trying to make sense of this seeming paradox, this article examines the complex, and largely neglected, culture of contracts involving several communities, joint-stock companies and the frontier administration. Through a connected history of the contractual and the customary in the region, it points at the critical and inconstant conjunctions between the styles of political control, the logics of capital accumulation and the discursive infrastructure of identity and difference.

Suggested Citation

  • Bodhisattva Kar, 2016. "Nomadic capital and speculative tribes: A culture of contracts in the Northeastern Frontier of British India," The Indian Economic & Social History Review, , vol. 53(1), pages 41-67, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:indeco:v:53:y:2016:i:1:p:41-67
    DOI: 10.1177/0019464615619533
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mitchell, Timothy, 1991. "The Limits of the State: Beyond Statist Approaches and their Critics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(1), pages 77-96, March.
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