The middle of the month an isolated and living the island people had been killed in India, the American missionary Chau. Deutsche Welle spoke with the anthropologists Christoph Antweiler about what can be done in the case.
At the beginning of the month, the American missionary John Allen Chau was driven with the help of fishermen to a remote island in the Andaman sea. Deposited there lives to a large extent the people of the Nautilus. In order to protect you, is a restricted zone around the island.
Chau was several times landed his kayak on North Sentinel Island. “My Name is John. I love you and Jesus loves you”, he is said to have the natives according to his diary. His diary he handed over the fishermen before his last journey. The records also shows that Chau was aware of both the prohibition, as well as aware of the danger.
The missionary and adventurer John Allen Chau has gone deliberately in danger
Even after he had survived an attack by the Sentinelese with the bow and arrow, returned to Chau on the island. 17. November, the fishermen discovered a body of similar stature to the Americans. The Sentinelese buried this, according to the fishermen in the Sand.
The Indian police approached several times on the island, to the case as well as it goes out of the distance, to educate. The authorities are, however, very cautious: “We want to avoid a direct confrontation with the tribesmen,” said the police officer in charge Dependra Pathak, the American channel CNN.
The remoteness of the island from the air (file photo)
Deutsche Welle: How should circumvent the authorities, in their view, with this case?
Christoph Antweiler: The killing of the missionary should in principle be treated like any other case. There should be no special arrangements, no matter whether it is a missionary or an American or a Local. The Problem is that it is in the island to Indian territory, the Sentinelese have held for years or decades, the contact with the outside world as low as possible. Here, the authorities are not able to act as in other Parts of India. In this respect, the police should proceed cautiously and that talks are looking for. It is also clear that it is not a minority, the feel of the identity to the Indian state of belonging.
But such an investigation does not endanger the Sentinelese, whose immune system is not, for example, as a measure against the flu or measles?
It is isolated, living or no longer with a low exchange of peoples known that there is often health risks, if you are on other meetings. In this regard, of course, protective measures should be taken.
Do you know of similar cases?
Such an isolated Situation as on Sentinel Island, there are around the world are extremely rare. Maybe still in fire country, where there are individual Islands that are contacted, very little, or smaller Islands in the Pacific ocean. Another Situation, which goes in the direction of some areas in Papua new Guinea, where the extremely mountainous landscape creates spaces where there is relatively little contact to other populations. But overall, one can say that there are isolated peoples, in the sense of undiscovered cultures on this planet.
What do we know about the contacts of these peoples with the outside world?
Most likely, we know something about the peoples life in the country in the Amazon basin. There are over a hundred groups that want to largely live in isolation. The are not not discovered peoples, but peoples who had at some point contact, for example to Share of the Brazilian population. Have often had bad experiences and then consciously pulled back. The Problem is that it often makes questions, for example, if a large interest in the use of the land. Then the contact will be forced, against the will of these peoples. This often leads to conflicts.
This explains the violent behavior of the Sentenilesen?
There are only guesses. The most frequently voiced is that there has been in the last few decades, and centuries of conflict, rich in contacts with other people, who wanted to settle, for example. It is striking that it is precisely in these areas, the island groups of the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands, early ethnographic reports of violence and reports of violent clashes.
Why should peoples such as the Sentinelese are protected?
This is a difficult question that can be answered, depending on whether you see the now, from a human rights or public policy point of view.
From a human rights point of view, that cultural diversity and minorities should be protected. Human rights are intended to protect the population, Yes, among other things, from their own governments. On the other hand, the collides of course with the claim to Sovereignty of the state. He wants to enforce in its territory, the monopoly of violence. Here it must be taken in each case a balancing.
In a broader sense, for example from a cosmopolitan perspective, it is not only the fate of these individuals, but the diversity of human life at all. These questions then lead to a very fundamental ethical and philosophical Considerations.
Personally, I’m of the Belief that these people are worth protecting. However, it is not realistic to achieve such protection through Isolation. A kind of Museum, or the idea of a kind of protective bell always carries the risk that it comes to an unexpected contact, which can often be very radical, harmful, or violent.
What would be the Alternative?
The Alternative would be a prudent Form of limited exchange. Only the adaptation and assimilation can be prevented to the dominant society. This careful and a lot of time requiring exchange is also on offer in the current case.
Christoph Antweiler is an anthropologist. His work focuses on Asia, urbanization, Regional identity, Local Knowledge, and universals. His last book was published in 2018: Our Common Denominator. Human Universals Revisited. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
The Interview was conducted by Rodion Ebbighausen.