Deals with the modern predicament of the Rabha (or Kocha) people, one of India;s indigenous peoples, traditionally practising shifting cultivation in the jungle tracts situated where the Himalayan mountains meet the plains of Bengal. When the area came under British rule and was converted into tea gardens and reserved forests, Rabhas were forced to become labourers under the forest department. Today, large-scale illegal deforestation and the global interest in wildlife conservation once again jeopardize their survival. Karlsson describes the development of the Rabha people, their ways of coping with the colonial regime of scientific forestry and the depletion of the forest, as well as with present day concerns for wilderness and wildlife restoration and preservation. Central points relate to the construction of identity as a form of subaltern resistance, the Rabha;s ongoing conversion to Christianity and their ethnic mobilisation, and the agency involved in the construction of cultural or ethnic identities.

This treatment of the modern predicament of the Rabha of Kocha people deals with their survival in the forest and their quest for identity. Rabhas are one of India's indigenous people, traditionally practising shifting cultivation in the jungle tracts where the Himalayan mountains meet the plains of Bengal. When the area came under British rule ans was converted into tea gardens and reserved forests, Rabhas were forced to become laboureres under the Forest Department. Today, large-scale illegal deforestation and the global interest in wildlife conservation once again jeopardise the survival of the Rabhas in the forest. The Buxa Tiger Reserve has recently become included in a World Bank programme for ecodevelopment. This description of the development of the Rabha peole covers their ways of coping with the colonial regime of scientific forestry and the depletion of the forest as well as with the present day concerns for wilderness and wildlife restoration and preservation. One of the central points of the book relates to the question of identity. The author discusses the Rabha's ongoing conversion to Christianity and their ethmic mobilisation. The main theoretical issue concerns the