Identity as Justice: Who Has the Authority to Define the Self, and How Is This Negotiated in the Context of the Tea Tribes of Assam

Human beings hunger not only for food and drink but also for recognition, the hunger for identity. This hunger shapes lives, moulds communities, and at times breaks them when denied. Identity is what allows a person or a people to truly “be” within their social, cultural, and political worlds. This paper examines the condition of the so-called “Tea Tribes” of Assam, a label imposed by the government, and argues that the question of identity is more fundamental than the ambiguous facilities offered under welfare schemes. Such provisions, instead of empowering, often function as instruments of bureaucratic control that weaponise the life and culture of marginalised peoples. The issue extends beyond Assam, reflecting a universal struggle of oppressed groups worldwide who face hermeneutical injustice through misrepresentation and epistemic injustice through the silencing of their voices. By contextualising the plight of one community, the research raises a larger philosophical question: Who holds the authority to define identity? Can political powers, under the rhetoric of freedom and democracy, impose definitions that serve only power and expediency? Or must identity remain the right of individuals and communities to articulate for themselves? The study argues that identity is inextricably linked to justice. To demand recognition is not to resist the nation but to affirm dignity within one’s own homeland. Identity, therefore, is not a privilege granted by rulers but an existential right of every people, a right that transforms recognition itself into justice.