How to Cite

Harris, Tina: Wool, Toothbrushes, and Beards: Kalimpong and the “Golden Era” of Cross-Border Trade, in Viehbeck, Markus (Ed.): Transcultural Encounters in the Himalayan Borderlands: Kalimpong as a “Contact Zone”, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2017 (Heidelberg Studies on Transculturality, Volume 3), p. 205–222. https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.301.c4111

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https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.301.409
ISBN 978-3-946054-56-6 (PDF)
ISBN 978-3-946054-58-0 (Softcover)
ISBN 978-3-946054-57-3 (Hardcover)

Published

12/14/2017

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Authors

Tina Harris

Wool, Toothbrushes, and Beards: Kalimpong and the “Golden Era” of Cross-Border Trade

Abstract In the first issues of the Himalayan Times, a locally produced newspaper, Kalimpong is described as having a high potential for devel­opment, due to the caravans of wool making their way from Tibet through Kalimpong and on to India, the US, and beyond. In the years to follow, the Kalimpong trading scene became a well-known locus for the sharing of geopolitical knowledge and the forging of new economic networks from far-flung locations. From a mule staging ground to a retail hub for com­modities such as Santa Claus beards, this paper argues that an exam­ination of the changes in mid-twentieth century Kalimpong-based trade is a good starting point from which to investigate larger scale geopoliti­cal shifts and the restructuring of social and economic inequalities in the Himalayas.