Synopses & Reviews
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. This book offers unprecedented insights into the processes of colonization and modernization, the persistence of harmful myths about and#147;savages,and#8221; and the perennially fraught relationship between light- and dark-skinned peoples.
Mukerjee gives us a fascinating look at a world nearly gone. Combining anthropological findings with historical accounts and personal travel stories, she lets us glimpse a primeval, disappearing humanity.
Review
"[H]er personal chronicle of the Andamanese is an impassioned portrait at
an ancient culture on the brink of vanishing." Publishers Weekly
Review
"A grim look at the history and current state of four tribes on the Andaman Islands....Well-executed portrait of four cultures soon to be extinct." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A]n unusual, eclectic perspective that will be accessible to readers with a general interest in anthropology and other cultures. A welcome addition to public and academic libraries." Library Journal
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [245]-250) and index.
About the Author
Before winning a Guggenheim fellowship to work on The Land of Naked People, Madhusree Mukerjee was an editor for Scientific American.
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface Xi
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
Acknowledgments 243
Bibliography 245
Index 251