SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

The Andaman “Local Born”: a history of ex-convicts and their descendants in the Bay of Bengal

This paper will explore the history of the convict-descended “local born” community in the ex-British penal colony of the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal.  I will draw on my work in archives and interviews in the Islands to speak about the history of land and labour; culture, religion and sexuality; and the drive for self-sufficiency and the raising of community "morale." I will talk about some of the social and cultural effects of the penal colony; and how the Andamans are today presented as a harmonious model of "unity in diversity" for all India, and a key site of struggle and resistance against the British Empire.