Using a contemporary approach to understand history, culture, trade, and effects of climate change, we will attempt to understand the people and places living at the Borders of Northern India. This project traces these complex questions by following the journey of three commodities, and the people who make them. We will learn about the luxury fabric, Cashmere, a spice, Saffron, and a beverage, Tea, and get to know the history of their making, their makers, and why these places of production, Kashmir and Assam, have suddenly become important for global news. This journey will help us understand these objects, and the culture of making behind them which go beyond stereotypical representations of what it means to be Indian.
