Liminality of Institutionalized and Under-Institutionalized Identities: Tea-Tribe Laborers in India

Abstract

Despite growing interest in identity within the management and organization studies, Indigenous identity in the Indian context remains underexplored. To address this gap, I examine the identity struggles of tea plantation laborers (Tea-Tribe laborers) in Assam, India. Specifically, I explore how the tea plantation laborers experience and navigate liminality between their institutionalized occupational identity as a laborer and under-institutionalized ethnic identity as an Adivasi. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 25 Tea-Tribe laborers and adopting a constructivist approach, I identify important distinctions in their identity work. For the institutionalized (laborer) identity, their identity work primarily takes the form of political advocacy. In contrast, for the under-institutionalized (Adivasi) identity, they engage in cultural assertion along with political advocacy. My study contributes to the positional liminality literature by showing how intersecting disadvantaged identities shape liminal experiences and how individuals navigate them through identity work.