Future of Andaman's 500 Jarawa tribals uncertain

[Ayinde]

NEW DELHI: There was no concrete information till late Friday evening about the condition of the 500-odd Jarawa aborigines tribe inhabiting the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Of these, at least 260 were reported to have survived the devastating tsunami by hanging on to the trees. According to the 2001 census figures, there were around 250 Jarawas inhabiting the middle-south Andaman Islands. By the end of this year their population is expected to have more than doubled, a senior government official said.

Full Article @ indiatimes.com


Reproduced for Fair Use Only
Picture Copyright © IndiaTimes.com
More photos here

[Ayinde]

Groups of rare aboriginal tribes already near the edge of extinction in the Andaman and Nicobar islands survived a massive tsunami, the coast guard said on Thursday.

Five tribes numbering 989 people were safe after Sunday's onslaught, including the 100-member Onge, 250 of the fiercely independent Sentinelese, 39 of the almost extinct Andamanese, 350 of the Jarawa and 250 of the hunter-gatherer Shompen.

Full Article @ iafrica.com


Reproduced for Fair Use Only
Picture Copyright © The Andaman Association
More about the Andaman people

[Tyehimba]

Early Africa to Asia Route Mapped



By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Early humans approximately 100,000 years ago traveled from Africa to Asia via a southern route that likely passed along the coasts of what are now Pakistan and India, according to researchers at Oxford University.

The finding helps to explain how humans began to settle in Asia, and why certain isolated populations throughout Southern Asia share a common history and possess similar genes.

Researchers were able to map the migration route after identifying a genetic marker in samples of inaccessible populations from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. The samples were provided by the Natural History Museum of London.

A paper detailing the study is published in the current issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Andaman Islanders, who live as hunter-gatherers, largely remain isolated from the developed world. Since the earliest days of Victorian anthropology they have fascinated scholars by their distinctive appearance. They possess very dark skin, tight curly hair and are short in stature compared to other groups in the region.

Because of their ancient way of life, remote location and distinctive physical appearance, scientists have speculated that the Andaman people represent the original inhabitants of the area, possibly those who left Africa between 53,000-93,000 years ago.

Phillip Endicott, a researcher in the Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Center of Molecular Evolution at Oxford University's Department of Zoology, and his colleagues discovered that the Andaman people possess a certain kind of DNA found in their cellular mitochondria. This haplogroup, or lineage, appears to be a subgroup, called M2, of a genetic marker linking many Asian people: M.

The presence of M2 could explain why some people in southern Asia share similar characteristics.

"There are many similarities between groups of hunter-gatherers within India and Southeast Asia," Endicott told Discovery News. "Our paper shows that there is on average a 23 percent occurrence of M2 within these groups in India."

Travel, intermingling with other cultures and recent population changes could explain why M2 is not present in all Asians. The closeness of the M and M2 groups, however, does provide a genetic link.

"The findings suggest that the similarities between these now isolated populations of Asia are not coincidental and that these peoples really do share a common history," commented Chris Stringer, a professor at the Natural History Museum in London.

Stringer added, "The presence of M2 in significant proportions amongst the more European-looking caste populations of India indicates that many of these early settlers were absorbed into later population expansions."

Endicott and his team, through the "Indian Rim Project" funded by the National Environment Research Council, hope to further determine how early humans evolved and migrated from Africa to Asia.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20030203/andaman.htm

Reproduced for Fair Use Only
Picture(s): Courtesy of The Andaman Organization
Copyright © 2002 Discovery Communications Inc.

[Christine]

As many as 656 Nicoborese aborigines in the worst-affected Nicobar Islands are dead and about 3,000 belonging to the tribe are missing five days after the tsunami hit the southern coastline of the country.

Official figures put the population of Nicoborese at 28,653 as per the 2001 census.

Government would be sending teams to areas where the aborigines -- Andamanese, Onges, Jarawas, Sentinelese, Shompens and Nicoborese -- live to make a factual assessment of their present status, a senior Home Ministry official today said.

According to official figures, 49 Andamanese living in Strait Islands were safe while 94 Onges in Little Andaman's have been surveyed by a helicopter and were safe.

full story

[Bantu_Kelani]

Interesting information! We have so much to know to support our own people those who are inflicted with pain. These information are totally benificial to keep us concerned. Thanks!!!

B.K

[Ayinde]

Some of us have cooperated to use this tsunami disaster coverage to also ensure more people are aware of the extent of the African Diaspora, which includes even the people in these islands in the Asian region.

On one of our earlier reasonings on the African presence in Asia, you made this comment:

"But how you can describe "African" Asian dark-skinned people? The vast majority of them don't consider themselves "black" or cared to be treated as "African" it's still a fact; although I have heard of black Asian organizations have begun an outreach to African Diaspora Organizations. I just think it's wrong to create a force connection with them if they shut it down. They deserve our support only because we share common oppression at the hands of colonization. But sorry they have faint or no cultural ties with black-Africans." (source)

I suspected that others may also be unaware of these as well as other dark-skinned Blacks in that region.

These dark-skinned Black aboriginal people in that region are culturally African even if some of them may not be aware of their African ties. Their entire way of life is indigenous African. The information coming out from that region today shows that some of them are aware of their African roots. But I will say, even if they were unaware, it does not alter my awareness of them and others in that region, including Papua New Guinea.

When I am speaking about dark-skinned Blacks or Diasporan Africans, I am also speaking about them.

[Bantu_Kelani]

I never denied these people were a "black Community," the pictures you posted show how it is crystal clear. These black people have their own language and culture that determinate who they are. I never refused these facts.

B.K

[Ayinde]

Many ethnic groups in Africa have their unique languages and 'culture' and many of us Diasporan Africans have no problem understanding them through their cultural practices, as language is not the only way people understand each other. You also previously said, in reference to these Blacks in the Fiji Islands, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere: "But sorry they have faint or no cultural ties with black-Africans", and in my opinion you were wrong. Their cultural ties are very evident by who they are and the way they live.

The San and other Bantu people in Africa have languages that many of us do not understand. Similarly, groups of Blacks who do not live on the African continent speak languages that many of us do not understand. They are ethnically "Black Communities" and they are also part of the general Black Community of Diasporan Africans.




Remembering Papua New Guinea: An Eccentric Ethnography
by: William C. Clarke

[Bantu_Kelani]

I see it is convenient for you to quote what I've said in other threads it's ok with me. I maintain here that there is a difference between the mindset of blacks from different ethnicities in Africa as compared to the mindset of blacks in the Diaspora. Those blacks in the Pacific, Asia and South Asia and in Arabia and Northern Africa do not call themselves "African." To them "Africans" are the bantus, the blacks of the Sahara and the Sub-Sahara from Mali on down. I am not disputing the fact that the Australoid-Negritic black populations display all the social traits of black Civilization. Each referred black civilization has its own culture, so its own people, foods, traditions, language and customs. For these reasons the majority of black Negritic population will never accept to be called "African," they don't see themselves as having any special connection with bantu Africans, and that's the reality. But we still are the black people of the world.

B.K

[Ayinde]

Kelani, it IS convenient to quote you, and that is why I did.
 
We were never discussing the mindset of these people. How and why they think the way they do is open to research, and another debate. Many Africans on the continent don't see themselves as having any special connection with Africans outside the continent, and only feel a vague connection with other Africans on the continent. I know one of the reasons we do what we do is to encourage more people to realize these connections. Even if they are unaware, like any other remote ethnic group including those in Africa, that does not stop me from considering them part of my dark-skinned Black African family.      
 
There are differences throughout the Diaspora, even among individuals and that does not alter what I have explained. There are Africans in the U.S., the Caribbean, and in Africa, who do not call themselves Africans. Some do not understand what others mean by “African”, and of course they are quite free to call themselves what they want.  
 
I can call all of these Black people Africans (meaning Diasporan Africans), and be quite in order. It does not matter what they choose to call themselves. I am certainly not depending on them to tell me how to form my own mental construct. We can relate to different ethnic cultural practices in Africa, as much as we can relate to the cultural practices of these other Black communities outside of Africa.  
 
These Blacks in remote parts of India and throughout the pacific are as different as you and I are, to the San and other African groups. There is a growing Pan-African movement, even in India, and those Blacks are quite in order to identify with Africa and call themselves Afrikans. Black people who are growing aware of their African heritage\ties do not go around calling themselves ‘Diasporan Africans’; they simply say ‘African’ or ‘Afrikan’.  We know they do this as part of orienting themselves.  
 
We had some Aborigines from Australia visiting here, and they referred to themselves as Pan-Africans – identifying with the bigger Diaspora and struggles. They were as Pan-African as any other Pan-African person out there. We all understood them quite clearly, and it did not take away from the fact that they were Australian Aborigines.

It is not necessary for all Blacks to call themselves Africans for those of us who are constructing a bigger idea of ourselves, to see them as part of Africa and Diasporan Africans, who feel the negative impact of 'White' power the most.

[Bantu_Kelani]

I can call all of these Black people Africans (meaning Diasporan Africans), and be quite in order. It does not matter what they choose to call themselves. I am certainly not depending on them to tell me how to form my own mental construct.

There are many and varied blacks of the world, all with their own identity and culture which work to define who they are. So, IMO, you can't do that. You can't take other peoples self-identity and call them something they question.

B.K

[Ayinde]

I have already explained there are a variety of Blacks with different ethnicities. You are not saying anything new here. I can call them Africans, (meaning Diasporan Africans). Calling them all Diasporan Africans is for addressing common issues. And as I said, no one can tell me how to form MY OWN mental construct. It is not like I am walking up to strangers and shouting, “Hey you, you are an African”.

Besides, I already stated, it is not even necessary for them to call themselves Africans for those of us who are constructing a bigger idea of ourselves, to see them as part of the African Diaspora.

When I am speaking about Diasporan Africans, I am considering all these groups of Black people, among others. The few Blacks I have reasoned with from Fiji and Australia seems quite comfortable with what I have explained here, and viewing them as part of our bigger collective does not diminish or deny their local ethnicity.

There are many Black people in this world who do not think they are Black or African and tied to Africa and bigger issues, but that does not keep me from knowing the truth about them. People once thought the world was flat.

Self-Identity is about truth and integrity.