The land of naked people : encounters with Stone Age islanders / Madhusree Mukerjee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mukerjee, Madhusree.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Andamanese (Indic people).

Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India).

Physical Description:

xx, 268 pages : illustrations, 1 map ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

Summary:

On a lush, remote island, modern civilization has recently made contact with what may be the last group of Stone Age people. The Sentinelese wear no clothes, do not know how to start a fire, and have fervently rejected the intrusion of outsiders. But that is changing, writes Madhusree Mukerjee, who has had exceptional access to that island and the others that make up the Andaman chain in the Bay of Bengal. Over seven years, Mukerjee found that other aboriginals on the islands have abandoned their ancient ways for enticements such as motorcycles and plastic toys. The price: outsiders have taken critical land, introduced serious diseases, and left the natives with a broken sense of self. The Land of Naked People offers unprecedented insights into colonization, modernization, harmful myths about "savages," and the perennially fraught relationship between light- and dark-skinned peoples. Combining anthropological findings with historical accounts and personal travel stories, Madhusree Mukerjee lets us glimpse a primeval, disappearing humanity.

Contents:

First Brush 1

Great Andamanese

Savage 13

Uprooted 25

Pacification 34

Native Morals 44

Civilized Vices 54

Death 62

Life After Death 72

Onge

A Fiery Arrival 81

Sugar and Starch 89

Gifts, Traps 98

Cultural Exchange 110

Outsiders and Other Ghosts 119

Falling Apart 128

Assimilation 134

Jarawa

Hunted 145

Visions of Control 159

With the Enemy 168

State of War 178

Where Worlds Touch 186

The Taming of Tigers 192

On Full Modernization 205

End of the Road 214

Sentinelese

Small Earth 223

Afterword: Origins 234.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [245]-250) and index.

ISBN:

0618197362

OCLC:

50441067

Online:

Publisher description