Planter Associations and Racial Exclusivity

 

1. Planter Associations and Racial Exclusivity

The Dooars Planters Association, which included leading British firms like Duncan Brothers, excluded Indian planters from decision‑making and social club-like activities. Indian planters joining your typical road were expected to dismount and defer to British planters they encountered on public roads Taylor & Francis Online+2Scribd+2Scribd+2. This formal exclusion reflects how social mixing—especially equality—was institutionally discouraged.

2. Colonial Ethnography and Racial Ideology

Colonial intellectual traditions categorized Indians as inherently inferior or “uncivilised.” British planters relied on such frameworks—like Herbert Hope Risley’s caste and race schema—not only to manage labor but to justify social distance between rulers and subjects. These ideas strongly influenced corporate culture, endorsing strict segregation between British and Indian staff WikipediaSAGE Journals.

3. Recruitment & Labor Control

Under the Inland Emigration Act and subsequent labor codes, British tea firms held legal authority to restrict worker movement, enforce long contracts, and punish desertion. These coercive mechanisms extended to everyday social life: British employees avoided any familiarity with Indian laborers to maintain discipline and hierarchy on plantations Wikipedia.

4. Controlling Social Boundaries to Prevent Political Influence

Planters feared that socializing with Indians could lead to radicalization or political agitation. Especially by the 1920s and ’30s, nationalist movements had grown influential even among plantation labor. British firms like Duncan Brothers discouraged fraternization to prevent “propaganda” and maintain control over Indian labor and society within the plantation enclave studylib.net+4ebin.pub+4Scribd+4.

5. Rituals and Imperial Lifestyle

British expatriates belonged to exclusive clubs and lived within segregated enclaves—housing, clubs, hospitals, and schools separate from all Indian communities. Mixing socially—even casually—would blur these boundaries. Historian Piya Chatterjee, in A Time for Tea, reflects on how plantation life replicated imperial enclaves far from Indian society, enforcing cultural separation at every turn 

 Summary Table

ReasonPurpose
Institutional ExclusionReinforced British-only associations
Racial ideologyJustified belief in British superiority
Labor control statutesEnforced hierarchy and workforce discipline
Fear of political influenceKept nationalist ideas off the estates
Cultural segregation normsMaintained Empire‑style lifestyle and separation

While we lack direct quotes from internal Duncan memos, these historical patterns provide a clear understanding of why British firms like Duncan Brothers enforced strict segregation between employees and Indian communities. The practice was underpinned by systemic racism, colonial labor discipline, and sociopolitical control.

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