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ISSUES Open Forum on Goan Identity
I see the identity of a people as basically made up of its cultural uniqueness, including the environmental characteristics of the land of one's ancestors. The mother-tongue and the historical experiences of one's ancestral community are important constituents of that heritage. In a recent issue of Goa Today, Chandrakant Keni suggests that Goans are those whose ancestors were born in Goa before 1961. What happens if parents or grandparents were of Goan origin and were born outside Goa before 1961? Was not the large-scale emigration of Goans a part of Goa's historical experience? If Konkani language and love of the Goan soil are considered two essential components of Goan identity, cannot these other groups have them? I believe that Goans in diaspora generally tend to preserve with greater anxiety the Goan traditions that are disappearing in Goa? In the case of the inhabitants of Goa or descendants of Goan ancestry, the Indian matrix of the heritage is always present in a more of less diluted form. Four hundred and fifty years of the Portuguese rule did not fail to leave its impress, be they positive marks or scars, not just upon the converted section of the population, but also upon the majority Hindu component of Goa's population. Had it not been for this historic input, would Goa have a chance to achieve the status of a State among other States of India? The fact that Goan Christians and Hindus are aware of their differences is no reason to deny what they share in common. differences also exist among the different generations of the Goans, among Goans of different caste and gender groups, among Goans who lived always in Goa and Goan expatriates, or those who have adopted Goa as their home in the very recent past, among Goans with different economic standards, etc. IDENTITY IMAGES Nowadays they are invented by some Indian bureaucrats and professionals who seem to have come here to teach Goans to be less easy-going or to be less un-Indian! I was amused to read in the first issue of "Govapuri", that Goans are largely a T-shirt wearing population! The same writer seems upset that there are Goans who would fight for the recognition of Goa's "foreigness"! It appears to me most undemocratic and un-Indian that Goans who wish to think that way should not have their freedom to do so. It is also said of them that "they would refuse to accept Goa was wholly Indian". I wonder if the use of the past tense "was wholly Indian" is deliberate or a Freudian slip. One wonders if to be wholly Indian one has to chew pan and spit it all around or replace T-shirts or G-shorts with kurta-pajama or safari suit. Identity does not have a closed definition and it is open to changes brought about by ongoing historical processes. But at any given time there can be different in-group and out-group perceptions of the identity. These perceptions develop with reference to experiences of integration or exclusion within the group or by an outside group. There will be those who include only the virtues or positive features in the definition of identity. Similarly, there will be others who will give preference to negative features by way of a taunt! LANGUAGE AND SOIL Let us not seek to hide the fact that the distinctiveness or identity issue is meant to serve as a rallying-point against those who may threaten the survival of the community, or some dominant interest group or groups of the community. BHAILE OR NON-GOAN A letter to the editor of Goa Today in a recent issue complained that lethargy and corruption have become a way of life in Goa. This writer could be taken as representing many others who think the same way. Are the Indian politicians outside Goa less lethargic and corrupt, leaving us to conclude that Goan identity has been further enriched in this direction? Incidentally, I fail to understand also how lethargy and corruption go together. Those who are corrupt are generally very active citizens of our country. GOAN FIRSTS TOURISM We should not forget at the same time, that perhaps more than the total number of resident Goans or tourists coming to Goa are the Goan expatriates or emigrants. Don't they absorb and transmit to Goa influences that could be considered contrary to traditional Goan identity? But are not the remittances of emigrants vital? Are not the expatriates beneficial to the good name of Goa internationally? Or at least a source of reduction of additional pressure on the limited or un-existent resources of Goa? Fortunately, Goa has been exposed early to globalization, and the high degree of consciousness and resistance to its impact is a sign of its preparedness to resist its less positive impact. SOCIAL INTEGRATION How do Goans perceive themselves in Portugal? Caste prejudices are ever present. More than one cultural associations of Goans are based on subtle caste rivalries. Goans who have performed well and distinguished themselves do not show great interest in associating themselves with the "hoi-polloi" Goans. These in turn may hate this superiority complex of their country-cousins. But such behavioral patterns are not unknown in Goa itself. The expatriates feel it differently due to expectations they often entertain in a different life contexts in their countries of adoption. But despite such an other in-group and out-group perceptions and reactions, no Goan would miss an opportunity to visit Goa, or taste a favorite Goan dish, or feel proud of what are perceived as the positive features of the Goan identity. Hence the old Konkan proverb "Ghor-mogreak pormoll nam". (The home jasmin has no fragrance), or another one which states, "Pott bhorta thuim ghor." (Where one fills one's belly, there is one's country) in no way deny the identity of Goans or their special feelings for Goa. Dr Teotonio R. D'Souza An Open Forum on Goan Identity on 24 August 1999, sponsored by the Goa University and Institute Menezes Branganza in Panjim, was initiated by Prof. Teotonio R de Souza. |
Knowing
the subject is by its nature as much emotional as academic, it requires
our conscious efforts to keep the emotions to the minimum.