A Road to Extinction

Can Palaeolithic Africans survive in the Andaman Islands?

Jonathan Lawley

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English

EnvelopeBooks
10 December 2020

National liberation & independence, post-colonialism; Indigenous peoples; Endangered species & extinction of species

The Jarawa, perhaps the oldest tribe of human beings in the world, may go extinct because of a road that runs through pristine forests in the Indian-administered Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal, and no one seems to care.

Tourists take the road each day to try and get selfies with the tribespeople, who came from what is now Botswana over 60,000 years ago.

Once proud of their independence, the Jarawa are now tempted with biscuits and trinkets, as if they were exotic animals in a human safari park. They can't survive like this.

In this astonishing book, Jonathan Lawley returns to what was once a penal colony built by the British to house Indian mutineers.

He asks what responsibility colonial administrators like his grandfather may have had for the sad plight of these palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, and what the Indian government should now be doing to protect them.

Sumptuously illustrated with the author's never-before-seen archive photographs.

AUTHOR: Jonathan Lawley was born in N.E. India (now Pakistan) with family links going back five generations to the East India Company. After Indian independence, he moved with his parents to Africa, becoming the last white district commissioner in Zambia. He went on to work for Rio Tinto, setting up Africa's first management training programme for black employees. He has been a director of the Royal African Society, and has campaigned energetically on African interests.

34 illustrations

By: Jonathan Lawley
Imprint: EnvelopeBooks
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 127mm,
ISBN: 9781838172015
ISBN 10: 1838172017
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 10 December 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

1 The Andaman Trunk Road; 2 Return to the Past; 3 What the World Stands to Lose; 4 Islands out of this World; 5 Joining the World; 6 Research; 7 A Visit in 2018; 8 Family and Empire; 9 History and Geography of the Andaman Islands; 10 My Family in the Andamans; 11 Contact and Understanding; 12 Reggie and the Aboriginals; 13 1922-1947; 14 African Perspectives; 15 North Sentinel; 16 The Jarawa Today; 17 Extinction or Survival? Appendix 1 A Jungle Adventure; Appendix 2 A Day in the Nepal Terai; Appendix 3 Musings of a Magistrate's Wife; Appendix 4 The True Story of a Floating Shrine; Appendix 5 Trip to the Nicobars; Appendix 6 The Andamans: A Family Connection. List of illustrations.

Jonathan Lawley was born in India and educated in Southern Africa and Cambridge. He joined the Colonial Service in Northern Rhodesia, became fluent in the Tonga language of the Zambezi Valley and was the last British District Commis- sioner in independent Zambia. Fluency in French took him to the Congo, Morocco and Mauritius. His interest in management development led him to set up and run a Rio Tinto-funded programme to develop the first indigenous technical managers for the mining industry in Southern Africa, a field of expertise in which he went on to take a PhD. After retirement he became Africa Director of British Executive Service Overseas (BESO), was the first Director of the Royal African Society and is now adviser to the Business Council for Africa. Previous publications: Transcending culture: Developing Africa's technical managers; Beyond the Malachite Hills; Zambia since 1960

Reviews for A Road to Extinction: Can Palaeolithic Africans survive in the Andaman Islands?

"JOHN SIMPSON, World Affairs Editor, BBC News: ""Five generations of Jonathan Lawley's family have known and served in the Andaman Islands. Now, the Indian authorities have built an illegal road for tourists to gawp at the Jarawa, who wear no clothes and use bows and arrows to hunt. Jonathan Lawley's account of what has happened is deeply moving and deserves our attention and our support."" MATTHEW PARRIS, Writer and Broadcaster: ""A fine balance of information and passion. A book of anthropological importance, with a message pivotal to the survival of an indigenous island society on the edge of extinction, written with invaluable insight from the author's own family history in connection with the islands."" PETER HENNESSY, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary University of London: ""An absorbing and intriguing story, beautifully presented."" Richard Luce, Former UK Government Minister: ""For anyone interested in the remarkable diversity of our planet, reading A Road to Extinction is a must. It is a fascinating book and I strongly recommend it. Jonathan Lawley could not be better qualified to tell the story of the Jawara tribe. His long family history in India, including the Andamans, plus his own distinguished service as an Administrator in southern Africa, enables him to describe this story with realistic empathy for the tribe's wish to continue their own unique way of life without disturbance from the rest of us."" CHRISTOPHER MATTHEW, Writer and Broadcaster: ""By turns astonishing and deeply troubling. Dr Lawley's book is truly a revelation."" HUGH TYNDALE-BISCOE, Former Chief Research Scientst, CSIRO: ""In this new book Jonathan Lawley has turned his attention to the colonial service of his own family in India and the Andaman Islands, tracing the story of the islands and their aboriginal inhabitants through to the present day. It is a fascinating but sombre tale."" JOHN SMITH, Colonial Historian: ""A gripping mix of history, memoir and polemic about a people who have managed to avoid all that has happened to most of humanity over the last 60,000 years. Dr Lawley pleads powerfully that their wishes to remain apart be respected and makes it clear that if they are not, contact with our civilization will kill them."" MICHAEL HOLMAN, Former Africa Editor, The Financial Times: ""A compelling appeal for the world to wake up and save this last redoubt of a world that otherwise faces imminent extinction."""