It's very easy to talk about the perceived ills of The Other, while we forget the log in our own eye!
That is probably why the Portuguese/British made a huge issue about 'sati', which while a problem was nowhere as big as was made out to be, as historical research now indicates. Though I cannot cite this offhand, there was an interesting study on how the colonial ruler made a big thing out of sati, in large part to justify their own "civilising mission" in South Asia. To be more specific, it's easy to talk about practices which are *not* part of the community we culturally belong to (i.e. the Catholic community) and instead focus on "dowry burning, sati, and devadasism (sic)". Shouldn't reform begin at home? Shouldn't we talk about the impact of alcoholism on women (a seriously and widely-felt problem)? Or, the impact of out-migration? And, migration and tourism-linked AIDS in coastal Goa? Even the way in which Goa's supposedly 'uniform' family laws are twisted to ensure that Catholic women are disinherited from their property rights? At the end of the day, we seem to be simply scoring brownie points against The Other (i.e. people unlike us!) in the name of showing a concern about gender issues. It's hypocritical to say the least for Catholic Goans to lament the woes of Hindu and Muslim women, without taking up gender rights within the community itself. Or does it simply give us a false sense of security, in the (misplaced) believe that we are "better" and "superior" than others? A view long held by Goans, to the detriment of all, as we are ourselves overtaken by people who have less inflated egos. Time to puncture some of our own gas bags? --FN On 02/07/06, Jose Colaco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 1. Dowry Burning > 2. Sati > 3. Devadasism -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Yahoomessenger: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ---------------------------------------------------------- 2248 copylefted photos from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/ _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
