Author: Cyril D'Cunha
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 15, 2001
URL: http://www.timesofindia.com/today/15mpan1.htm
With `sons of the soil' demanding
a share in the pie of government set-up, the question of identity in terms
of religion, language and tradition becomes all too crucial.
``No identities are limited to state
boundaries or any culture is indiscriminately open,'' says Teotonio R.
De Souza, a renowned historian.
Explaining further, De Souza, director
of the Centre for Asian Studies at the Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades
e Tecnologias, Lisbon, says: ``No community is free from cultural exchanges
with other historic partners in the process of its evolution.''
Applying this to Goan culture, he
says it would neither be co-terminus with the present state borders nor
is it exclusively made by long-term residents of Goa, because it contains
and continues to benefit from many borrowings and influences, both in Goa
and elsewhere, in India and the world at large.
De Souza explains that the origins
of the Goan identity precede the arrival of the Portuguese, but four-and-a-half
centuries of colonial rule have left their mark. Portuguese culture is
not very distinct from other national cultures and has always maintained
a strong internal heterogeneity, he says.
They were both, colonisers and emigrants
in their colonies, at least in Brazil and in Africa. The role played by
the Portuguese in Asia was morecomplex and they imposed themselves where
they could and tried to combine it with doing business with compromise
where needed.
He wished to remind that the liberation
of Goa did not come about as a result of any large-scale and united efforts
of the Goans themselves, but that several Indians from all parts of the
country contributed by joining in the satyagraha movement.
``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 or less diluted form. Four hundred and fifty
years of Portuguese rule did not fail to leave its impress, be its positive
marks or scars, not just upon the converted section of the population,
but also on the majority Hindu component of Goa's population,'' he says.
The fact that Goan Christians and
Hindus are aware of their differences is no reason to deny what they share
in common, he adds.
The decisive battles for the survival
of Goa's distinctiveness will always be fought on Goan soil, with or without
the support of Goan Diaspora, he says, which is meant to serve as a rallying
point against those who threaten the survival of the community or some
dominant interest group or groups of the community.
On the question of Goans and non-Goans
issue, he says there are certainly several non-Goans who have adopted Goa
and could give lessons on Goan identity to many Goans.
