Views from, and about, 20th century Goa Two books looking at Goa during the 20th century and before made it to the stands recently, writes Frederick 'FN' Noronha in his weekly column on books from Goa.
Antonio de Noronha of Loutolim was a high court judge, during the Republican regime of colonial Goa, who put together a book on communal relations of the times. Despite his Catholic background, he was blunt in his criticism of the colonial State of an earlier phase, and documented the religious bigotry it was responsible for in those times. Ave Cleto Afonso, who lectured in Philosophy at the Dhempe College, some time back surprised me by informing that he had translated the entire work, and was keen to have it republished here. It is now back in print, titled 'The Hindus of Goa and the Portuguese Republic (1922)', and is available in a bi-lingual edition. Coming with both Portuguese and English texts side-by-side, the 233-page book is priced at Rs 395, and has been published by Broadways (goabooks.com, Panjim). Besides the full-text, it also contains a 51-page also bilingual introduction by Afonso. Afonso has been a friend and guide for many young students (including this reviewer) in the Goa of the recent past. Like colonial bigotry, this book too needs to be situated in its context. It was officially printed during that short breathing space colonial Goa enjoyed, between the birth of the liberal Portuguese Republic in 1910, and the arrival of Salazar under two decades later. It exposes many issues of the past, which need to be discussed, debated and not pushed under the carpet. Specially when we in Goa seem to be going forcefully down the road of religious bigotry, though the shoe is on the other foot now. We need access to such books, and translations are more important now, because of the dramatic break with the Portuguese language after post-1961 times. Today, progressive Christians, other minority and even secular campaigners tend to be defensive about taking up such issues unfortunately. This only means that such issues end up with the communal or conservative camp (of all religions) setting the terms. While the name of the book is 'The Hindus of Goa and the Portuguese Republic', in fact it deals with the situation of 'Gentiles' in Goa prior to the Portuguese Republic. The name (in the original, and retained the same in the translation) seems a bit misleading. One can't but be critical of the Portuguese colonial state in its many shapes and forms -- De Noronha seems to think the Republican Portuguese rule was just fine, apart from its earlier communal excesses and bigotry. Yet, one is also intrigued by the role played by certain groups in spearheading the critique of Portuguese rule or its various aspects. Free-masons, sections of the Catholic landlords who became the most trenchant and early critics of the Portuguese, among others. There is perhaps need for a secular reinterpretation of Portuguese colonial history in Goa. Like the Black Legend of the Spanish, it seems to me that a 'black legend' is being built about Portuguese rule in Goa. This paints colonial wrongdoings wholly in communal terms; shows it to be probably worse than it actually was; and minimises or makes vanish the role of native collaborators. One wonders how the story of, say, the Inquisition gets shaped when its horrors are narrated primarily by those having a strong identity as Jews, Protestants and or a bias towards contemporary Hindutva politics. The rivalries of empire, till this day, get played out, say, between Northern Europe and Southern Europe. We also know of The Black Legend (La Leyenda Negra, in Spanish) that Julian Juderias wrote about, which in the past depicted Spain and Spaniards as "cruel", "intolerant" and "fanatical" in anti-Spanish literature, starting in the sixteenth century. The Black Legend propaganda is said to be influenced by national and religious rivalries as seen in works by early Protestant historians and Anglo-Saxon writers, describing the period of Spanish imperialism in a negative way. Other examples of the Black Legend are said to be the historical revision of the Inquisition, and in the villains and storylines of modern fiction and film. We can't simply refuse to debate such issues from the past, and pretend they don't exist. But, at the same time, we need a well-informed, not one-sided debate. 20TH CENTURY 'Goa In the 20th Century' is another book I managed to get a copy of recently. It's edited by JNU associate professor Pius Malekandathil and Remy Dias of the Government College at Quepem, published by the Institute Menezes Braganza, and priced at Rs 300. (In its post-takeover days, the IMB apparently has the funds and has been active on the publishing front. One only wishes that its books are more easily available, via more outlets. One also wonders why publications and seminars funded by State or other grants should be treated as 'copyrighted' works.) This is a book with a whole lot of essays, that would be of interest to anyone keen on understanding contemporary Goa. In all, there are 25 essays, encompassing some 420 pages (besides the index). Of course, the focus is history. The papers flow out of a 'national seminar' organised by the Quepem Government College, in July 2005 at the Goa University. Its focus includes Goa's legislative institutions, the Catholic Church, Goan houses, Goa's radio history, "consumption" in colonial Goa, the Portuguese Republic from 1910 to 1926, the struggle over mechanisation of fishing, the freedom movement, students protests in the 1970s onwards and more. ENDS FOOTNOTE: * Books available from Broadways (Panjim) and IMB (Panjim) respectively. * Blog at http://goabooks.wordpress.com * Covers of Goa-related books http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/sets/72157600119036160/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/sets/72157594289189120/ * Interested in publishing a book on Goa? Try http://goa1556.goa-india.org * The following outlets stock Goa-related authors and have a fairly good selection http://www.goabooks.com (Broadways) http://otherindiabookstore.com/ (OIBS, a good collection in Mapusa) * You can also find Goa-books via online sites like pustak.in and firstandsecond.com