Contents: Preface. Introduction. 1. Theoretical Context. 2. Historical Context. 3. Mamangkhe Village. 4. Cardamom. 5. Migration. 6. Ecological and Socioeconomic Change. Conclusions. Bibliography.

Cardamom and Class investigates the history of economic differentiation in a Limbu Village in East Nepal. By examining three historically overlapping productive processes subsistence agriculture, cardamom cultivation and international migration this book shows how each productive process has contributed in different ways to the acceleration of economic differentiation and rural class formation. In particular it focuses on cardamom, introduced to the village in 1968, which as a high value cash-crop has provided a means to transform significantly the lives of a large section of Limbu society.

Despite the increased integration of the village with a  national and global market, the continued existence of Limbu language and cultural practices emphasizes the active role villagers have played in shaping their current condition.