ABSTRACT
It is now widely accepted that the tribal communities on the islands of South Andamans have lost their culture and languages or are rapidly losing them with a steady decline in their population since colonial times. These communities identified by the Indian state as Primitive Tribal Groups refer (among others) to the Ongee and Jarawa communities of hunter-gatherers. Both academic and popular comment on the islands has over the years remained focused on the impact of their incorporation within the structures of the modern state. Much of such writing, however, has served to reinforce a narrative of victimhood that sees these communities as passive subjects of exploitation or neglect. Although there is undeniable evidence of the culturally destructive aspects of state policies of welfare, there is also evidence that points to a series of community responses that constitute a narrative not of victimhood, but of resistance and engagement. This chapter focuses on some of the specific ways in which the Ongee and Jarawa have mobilized language and strategies of self-presentation that is not reflective of mere acculturation or incorporation but of self-assertion, of resentment and, above all, an active engagement with the changing world around them. Such acts of self-expression it is argued must be understood in the context of the larger cultural logic that informs their lives in the forest and their capacity to act as historically conscious agents in the world outside it. The central thrust of this chapter is to present and analyze ethnographic data that tell us how the Ongee and Jarawa use their bodies as much as their language to interpret, engage and resist the intrusive presence of the state and the ‘outsider’ in their lives in the forest.
