MOKEN: SEA-GYPSIES OF THE ANDAMAN SEA POST-WAR CHRONICLES   By : Ivanoff, Jacques   (Bangkok, 1997)   169 pp., 47 pp. illus., 24 pp., 155 x 210 mm, pbk.  Weight  0.350 Kg   Code :  E21813     Price :  US$21.00 Order book click....
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Ivanoff, Jacques; Moken: Sea Gypsies of the Andaman Sea The book contains accounts of the nomads who live in the Mergui Archipelago of southern Burma and adjacent Thai territories. This minority of the northern branch of the Austronesian peoples have a very distinctive and peculiar culture. Most of the year they live on their boats but do not fish. During the rainy season they live on land, grow some plants, but are not avid cultivators and make little use of their agricultural produce. They developed a strong cultural identity but are nevertheless adapting to a changing environment. For outsiders, the functioning of their society is difficult to understand and still has its mysteries. The closing of Burma after 1948 prevented further research. These post­war chronicles, supplemented by a host of rare photographs, shed some light on this unique group deserving of a special place in the pantheon of ethnic minorities.