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ABSTRACT: While mapping a discourse on an aspect through the lens of postcolonialism, the first two things that struck one’s attention are to discover the writer’s concern for cultural consciousness and self-awareness, which are the hallmarks of postcolonial writings. The writings on the Tea Workers of Assam may be limited, but these writings are reflective of their cultural consciousness as well as self-awareness which demand the study of these writings in postcolonial strain of thought. Further, the community may, however, find marginal place in postcolonial Indian writings, but there are certainly a few poets and novelists who have genuinely attempted to focus on their life and culture along with their struggle for existence and voices against the oppressors. A reading of their writings are vital for understanding their culture and folklore, their history of immigration and their trials and tribulations, since the available historical books give only a bald picture of these people who have in course of time have become an indispensable part of the greater Assamese society and most importantly how they gradually acculturated to the Assamese society or at least ended up creating a hybrid syncretized culture. Hence, this paper attempts to make a survey into the postcolonial Indian writings concerning the Tea Workers of Assam, to understand their history of immigration, to get a glimpse of their folklife and to understand how they manage to retain their identity.

discourse, folklore, history, immigration, postcolonial, Tea Workers