Over
the ages some islands of the Maldives have become famous for the intellectuals
they produced. The islands of Addu and Fuamulaku have produced a long
line of chief justices and magistrates. Vaadoo in Huvadu Atoll produced
the eminent scholar who is widely acknowledged as the father of religious
scholarship in the Maldives. Gan Island in Haddunmathi produced the
father of Maldivian history. Coming to the north of the country, Kelaa
Island in Thiladunmathi has had its share of intellectuals. A question
that naturally arises is: Why has this handful of islands produced more
intellectuals than all the other nearly-200 islands combined? (Fura
Malé is excluded from this discussion because it is well known
that throughout history intellectuals from other islands have continued
to migrate to Malé.)
In sociology there is a raging debate regarding the roles of nature
versus nurture in the development of intelligence. Many scientists hold
the view that genetic inheritance is the prime determiner. There is
an equally large body of scientists holding the view that environment
is the key factor. Let us examine how we could apply these theories
to the Maldivian situation.
Genetic differences could occur within a population in one of two ways.
One is Darwinian type mutation. The other is in-migration. If one is
to go by history, the Maldivian population has had a continuous influx
of foreigners from places as diverse as Sri Lanka, Bengal, Malabar,
Gujurat, Achin, Iran, Morocco, East Africa and the Europe. They would
have definitely added to the gene pool. But would they have resulted
in inter island differences? There appears to be no historical evidence
of this happening. There is no recorded instance of a group of foreigners
colonizing any individual island, if one excludes the settlement of
King Hadhi Hassan's slaves in Noonu Atoll.
On the other hand, internal migration from one island to other was quite
common as documented by Hassan Ahmed Manik in his report "Topological
Changes in the Maldives". Thus all evidence points to a wide intermixing
of the genetic pools in the islands, rather than their isolation.
The uniform distribution of the genetic disease thalassemia throughout
the archipelago provides further conclusive proof of the intermixing
of genes in the Maldives. We may therefore safely exclude "nature" as
a cause of the inter island intellectual differences. We are then left
with "nurture".
Simply put, the nurture theory says that environment plays the major
role in intellectual development. In its most elementary form, it explains
how children of professionals like teachers, doctors and lawyers do
well in school. In the Maldivian context it may explain why some families
have excelled. But even a casual glance at the list of intellectuals
would show
that their distribution goes well beyond the families. In this discussion
a family may be defined as those living under the same roof, since we
have already excluded genetics as a cause in our above discussion.
We are therefore left with no choice but to go beyond the immediate
family environment for an explanation. What is the unique feature in
the social or physical environment of some islands that have made them
a cradle of intelligence? From a close observation of the social habits
of some of these islands, I have identified such a unique factor that
could shed light on the issue. It is the inter island differences in
defecatory habits. Let me detail out the theory.
The Maldivian population in the past could be divided according to their
defecatory habits into two groups, beach defecators (beachers for short)
and forest defecators (foresters). Over the centuries, foresters had
been contributing to the fertility of the soil of their islands. Ultimately
these islands grew into agricultural islands. This helped intellectual
development in two ways. First, it gave more time to the islanders to
stay on land and pursue intellectual activities. Second, it improved
the nutritional content of the food and protected babies from micronutrient
deficiencies that retarded their growth.
On the other hand the beachers left their excreta on the beach to be
washed away by the waves. The soil in their islands remained sandy and
unsuitable for agriculture. The islanders had no choice but to take
up fishing as a livelihood. In the days before mechanization, fishing
was such a time-intensive occupation that islanders rarely would have
had the luxury of staying on land during the day. In the night, without
electricity, education would have been a non-starter. Micronutrient
malnutrition would also have taken its toll. It is no wonder therefore,
that the beachers got left behind.
I must stress that the above hypothesis on the role of defecatory habits
on the development of intellect remains to be tested scientifically.
The research needed for this needs to be conducted soon. Otherwise rapid
modernization could change island environments to such a degree that
no accurate data would be available. To some extent, it may already
be too late, and the theory may never be proved. But on the face of
it the beacher/forester theory appears to explain adequately, the observed
intellectual differences among the islands.
Addu
Intellectuals
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