ABSTRACT Illegal economies and borderlands are intrinsically connected: geographical remoteness, weak state control, and dynamic social texture provide the kind of "grey" zone wherein a shadow economy may thrive. The present article aims to explore one of such middle grounds by focusing on the evolution of market-based crimes in Kalimpong between the mid-1930s and the early 1960s: the timeframe, deliberately limited to the years preceding WWII up to the Sino-Indian war of 1962, embraces the most active period in the history of the Himalayan trade hub. From remote hill station to main centre of the land route connecting Lhasa to Calcutta, Kalimpong was a hotbed of illicit activities - a vital node in several criminal distribution networks as well as a site of local production and consumption of illegal commodities. Availing myself of contemporary sources, such as local newspapers and official and legal documents drafted at government and district levels, I will decode the national and supranational conditions that triggered the emergence first, and the decline later, of Kalimpong as a trans-Himalayan "contact zone" and explore how these affected the lives of those Tibetans who operated across the line - of both state and legality.
About the Author: Papers on Inner Asia is a refereed occasional paper series focused on the history, language, literature, and culture of Inner Asia. Inner Asia is defined as the region that includes Islamic Central Asia (the areas sometimes called Western, Eastern, and Afghan Turkestan), Mongolia, Manchuria, and Tibet. The papers deal with various topics related to this vast region, in fields of history, philology, linguistics, anthropology, archeology, and economics, among others. Works on certain subjects that transcend the boundaries of Inner Asia in its strict sense, but are relevant for the study of its peoples, languages, history, and culture, are also included. The Papers were launched by Yuri Bregel in 1986. Beginning in 2020, the series is divided into six sub-series: (1) Islamic Central Asia; (2) Volga-Ural region and Western Siberia; (3) Mongolian and Manchu Studies; (4) Tibetan Studies; (5) Inner Asia through the Twelfth Century; and (6) The Mongol Empire, Thirteenth-Fourteenth Centuries. Papers on Inner Asia is designed to ensure prompt publication of scholarly papers and to facilitate the publication of longer papers, which are large enough not to be accepted by most scholarly journals. For further inquiries see sinor.indiana.edu