Ethnographic Hotspots of Andaman and Nicobar Islands: Urgency for Multidisciplinary Studies

Abstract

There have been numerous recorded ethnographic observations on the aborigines of Andaman and Nicobar Islands through centuries, from medieval mariners to colonial mandarins to the modern anthropologists and administrators. Today, however, for a reason, an emphasis is laid on the urgency of multidisciplinary studies among three aboriginal tribes, namely the Jarawa, Onge, and Shompen, being the ethnographic hotspots through anthropologists in collaboration with medical experts, biologists, pharmacognosists, and linguists. The anthropologists have the key role in such combined studies because of their unique methodology of research. It is the unwaveringly long enough participant observation by anthropologists which would have scientific bearing on other co-researchers in unravelling the hard facts and revealing the verifiable norms/principles.