Connections and Circulation: Routes and Commodities in the British Assam–Burma Frontier

Abstract

This article examines the significance of connections and circulation in the British Assam–Burma frontier by focusing on the complex networks and patterns of interactions between geographical areas and the routes through which people and commodities circulated within and across the frontiers of empire. It will study the forms of connections, route networks and commodities in circulation across the imperial frontiers and, in doing so, explore how these processes linked the region to the local as well as wider webs of flows. Further, it will examine how a range of experiences ensued in the frontier tracts through these complex processes. Rather than an ‘isolated’ or ‘inaccessible’ region, a focus on the routes, connections and circulation of commodities shows how the region was not only linked to various localities and spaces but also shaped by various forms of exchanges, movements and interactions at various levels and scales. For instance, as this article will highlight, a focus on the circulation of commodities such as cowries and beads suggests how these commodities not only formed important merchandises in the exchange networks. Cowries and beads were also acquired and adapted by various social groups, whereby they became important carriers and indicators of ascribing meanings, identities and social practices in the Assam–Burma frontier. In the process, these commodities became constitutive of the experiences that were entangled in the dynamic processes of community-building and cultural formation. The article will as such examine how routes and commodities formed vital components that connected people, places and exchange networks, and how these processes, in turn, historically mediated socio-cultural spaces and practices.