India is a vast country where people from different other countries came in different period of time and found out place to live in the neighbourhood of various indigenous groups of people. They in course of time were able to adjust themselves with the prevailing ecological, ethnic and cultural environment of the area of their settlement. For their very survival they had no option but to adjust themselves with the ecological set-up of their new settlements and also to imbibe different socio-cultural traits from the neighbouring ethnic groups. The Karens of Andaman Islands, who were brought from Burma (Myanmer) during the first quarter of the last century, are not exception. They too, have to adjust themselves with the ecology of North Andaman where they ultimately settled. They were brought here, as labourers by the British Government as of time there was acute shortage of labour force in North Andaman. They were given forest works in the beginning. But in course of time, they have diversified their occupation. They have also established close relation with different neighbouring communities and started close interactions with them as a strategy for their survival. They have even established connubial relationship with some of the neighbouring communities. Through this book the authors have portrayed the life style of the present day Karen people of Andaman Islands, including their mode of livelihood, social organization, system of social control, religion etc. The authors have also tried to show the similarities and differences of their society and culture from those of the Karen of Myanmer (Burma) and Thailand in order to show the nature and extent of change in their socio-cultural life.
The book will be very helpful to those social scientists who are studying culture change and acculturation of different ethnic groups, particularly of those immigrants who came and settled in an alien place. |
