Lost Tribes: Indigenous People and the Social Imaginary

Abstract

How should one make sense of contemporary sightings of lost tribes in the marginal spaces of the world system? The European myth model (Obeyesekere 1992) of the lost tribe is drawn from accounts of the ten lost tribes of ancient Israel. It was invoked by colonial powers and missionaries in their efforts to remake the histories of indigenous peoples, and is the basis for continuing efforts to locate descendants of the missing ten tribes. When applied to remote and relatively isolated indigenous populations, however, the European myth model of the lost tribe obscures differences in their histories and ignores their agency in current social interactions. In the Amazon lost tribes are the product of centuries of retreat and resistance against colonizers and nation states. In Melanesia disenfranchised groups contribute to the process through which they are designated lost tribes in order to increase their access to resources. These intercultural encounters mark the expansion of the world system into the final corners of the Earth.

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