The Andaman Islanders

About The Andaman Islanders

The Andaman Islanders by A. R. Radcliffe-Brown is an anthropological monograph written in the early 20th century. It offers a systematic ethnographic account of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands—especially the Great Andaman tribes—covering social organization, ritual and religion, myths, language, and material culture, and pairing description with comparative interpretation based on fieldwork. The opening of this study sets out the research context: funding and extended fieldwork, an initial but abandoned focus on the Little Andaman due to language barriers, and a shift to the Great Andaman tribes later aided by a skilled interpreter; it also notes unpublished physical anthropology, interrupted linguistic publications, and a new interpretive approach to customs and beliefs. The Introduction surveys the islands’ geography, climate, and monsoons; recounts early outside notices and the penal settlement at Port Blair; and explains sporadic historical contacts (including shipwrecks and the adoption of iron) amid persistent hostility, especially from the J̌a̤rawa. It distinguishes two cultural-linguistic divisions (Great Andaman and Little Andaman), lists the tribes, discusses the likely migration that produced the J̌a̤rawa in South Andaman, and remarks on the isolation of North Sentinel.

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