Dear Miguel Braganza,
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Precedence: bulk
First, thanks for cutting and pasting threads of previous conversations in
your reply to my introduction; they are indeed the kinds of things I'm
interested in reading and discussing.
Second, I hear loud and clear your point about my representing myself
through my credentials. Immediately it was posted and I saw what
goa-research was about, I knew that I was not being vetted as I had
imagined. I had known only that one had to submit a statement before one
was accepted into the group; and since I thought it was an academic group,
I offered the most forceful academic statement I could. One more word of
explanation: the only person's name I recognized was Fred Noronha's. He
participates along with me in a list called FOIL (forum of indian/inquilabi
leftists, depending on how you understand left squabbling). This group,
which did not require application, has a disproportionate number of
academics (grad students, researchers and profs) as its membership.
Obviously, one doesn't need to be an academic to have thoughtful
intellectual conversation about politics, culture and Goa. But the word
"research" in goa-research does suggest books and archives.
So, I'll start by addressing the identity question head-on: what are the
stakes for *you* as a Goa-based Goan in drawing the boundaries tightly, in
calling Goan only someone who was born in Goa? (Let me be clear: I
identify myself to Americans as Indian when I first meet them, as Goan
when I know them more, finally as Goan-origin born in Tanzania; that's
because
no one here knows Goa. It doesn't have the same symbolic value as hippie
heaven as it does in Europe.) So a person who fits the right
biological/ancestral profile, cooks Goan food, maybe even speaks a little
Konkani, is not Goan because, presumably, they left their birthplace or
worse still, live in the US or England (but not Portugal?) and return
every so often to wave money in the face of the local and call them lazy,
or to
put their parents in retirement homes where the old folks behave badly?
Obviously, someone who believes that she/he is a member of a group without
doing group work, participating as a citizen, is not one. But why is the
diaspora something you're unwilling to see as an extension of yourself?
(You say that you were partly educated in Bangalore, which suggests that
Goa did not satisfy all your scholarly needs.)
As I understand it, people, mostly men, have been leaving Goa for Bombay,
East Africa and Portuguese Africa, then the Gulf, Bangalore and Delhi for
at
least 75 years. Mostly for better employment, or for any employment. Some
return, most do not. Many if not most send remittances. This is surely
something that should be factored into a native's understanding of his/her
place? But why aren't you as
interested in the for this *economic reasons* underlying this migration
pattern? You're certainly aware of the economic effect, that is,
people returning, staying in hotels and believing that they have the same
stake in the state or state apparatus as you do. But why no attention to
the cause, to the fact that Goa hasn't been able to provide the economic
or even educational basics for all the people who it produces? This is by
no
means a criticism of Goa or even, necessarily, of India. I'm suggesting
that thinking about structures might be a better way to understand this.
Two more questions: you don't seem to be as critical of those Goans who
live in Portugal, visit (or return) to Goa. Is it because they are fewer
in number, because they aren't as wealthy, or both? And what is your
understanding of those Goans who went to the Gulf states in order to make
money? Where do they fit in your model?
sororally,
Susan
> ----- Original Message -----
From: "Miguel Braganza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "Susana Andrade" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "GRN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2004 10:53 PM
Subject: Re: [goa-research-net] Self-Intro
Dear Susan Andrade,Ph.D,
Those are interesting thought that you have put out: How does the
diaspora Goan view the native Goan and vice-versa? In fact, the dabate
goes to
the extent of the definition who is a Goan...is s/he an enigma, some kind
of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull? Goa...Goan...Gone !
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Susana Andrade" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: "GRN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Sent: Friday, July 23, 2004 12:25 AM
> >
I am associate professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh;
just finished a year as a visiting professor in English and Comparative
Literature at Columbia University, NYC. Ph.D in Comparative
Literature from U of Michigan. areas of specialization: African and
Caribbean
literature in English and French, postcolonial theory, feminist theory,
South
Asian literature, European travel writing.
Comment: Post colonial theories and feminism[ or,correctly, gender
mainstreaming] are issues on debate in Goa currently.
I'm of Goan ancestry, born in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, 1960. Both
parents are Goan; father from Panjim (Fontainhas), and mother from
people originally from Bardez.
Comment: Should Fontainhas be called 'Mala' and 'Rua 31 de Janeiro' [31
January Road] be called ' Unnis dezember marg' [19 December Road] ;
whether such changes are bona fide or Mala-fied are questions that are
being
asked today, thanks to some name plates that were affixed in January last.
Immigrated to the United States with parents. I live and teach there,
and most of my education has been there. Goa is an important part of my
cultural imaginary, however, and is a place I have visited several
times as a child and adult.
Comment: A dispassionate view can best be expressed from a distance. Let
us have your studied opinion on Fontainhas. You can access the debate on
Goa-net archives.
Above all, I believe that its time for the question of Goan identity
(usually understood to consist of a tension between Portuguese and Indian
elements) to be enlarged, to include the fact that about half of those who
are Goan do not live in India. (Fellow-Goan and
then-fellow-graduate-student, Peter Lobo, who studied political science
at U Michigan and concentrating on demography at the time I was doing my
Ph.D in Comparative Literature, told me this in the late 1980s.) If this is
so,
and I believe it is, what is the meaning of Goa for those who have never
seen Goa, or even seen India?
Comment: According to a debate on Goa net earlier this year, a "Goan" is
a 'native of Goa' and hence must be born in this Geographic area. I do not
believe that we have 1.4 million emigrants from among those born in Goa.
Persons of Goan origin are not necessarily native Goans.
How do you see a "Goan" ? How do those who live in Goa understand those
who
visit on an occasional or regular basis? How do they understand those
who own property in Goa, but cannot, or will not, live there for more than
a few months of the year? I am also interested in the relation between
those Goans who currently live in Portugal and those who live in India.
Comment: A non-native Goan normally comes to Goa on a holiday and often
lives in a hotel. S/he is a tourist and should not feel offended when
treated like one...specially when s/he tries to sermonize
native/resident Goan on what they should do, local politics and
infrastructure. It is
different if the person is willing to stay back and be part of the
process of change. Qualified guidance is different. It is welcome.
Sermonizing
is not.
It is galling[ even that may be an understatement] when persons of Goan
origin come and label us native Goans as "lazy". Simply put, if one does
not like it, no one is forcing them to come here. The worst kind are the
ones who have their aged parents in 'old age homes' in Goa [because it is
cheaper] and think we are lazy becuase no one will give personalized
service to their parents for a few piddling dollars. Either they should take
their parents with them ..or stay in Goa with their parents...or,at the very
least, shut up. This a failure of upbringing and nothing to do with
being a Goan. The parents suffer due to the lack of direction in their
children...and the inferiority complex caused by the colour of the skin.
There is no problem with Goans who live in Portugal..except the fluency
[or lack of it] in Portuguese among the natives of this generation. If the
Portuguese cousins speak good English, there is no problem at all. The
problem is an attitudenal one, not of nationality or residence. It is
worse in persons who are treated as 'second class citizens' in their chosen
country of work...who come and try to do the reverse in Goa.
Miguel Braganza
I am a Goa-born, partly Bangalore-educated, Goan in Goa; trained in
Agriculture and currently doing landscaping, editing of tabloids and
resource books on development strategies for multi-lateral aid agencies
and policy makers based in a process developed by the International
Institute for Rural Reconstruction, IIRR.]
You may like to join Goa Net [EMAIL PROTECTED] to get a cross section of
the opinions about things Goan..as seen through as many tinted glasses as
with naked eyes or clear lenses.Here are a few views on colonialism that
were
expressed on Goanet.
*****************************************************************************
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Please Note:
(1)All your postings to GRN should go with cc. to the List Moderators.
(2) Avoid cross-posting or carry-overs from discussions on Goanet.
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