Of Portuguese Colonial Hangovers
Post-colonial Lusophony or inventing paradigms 50 years after 450 of colonialism, queries Teotonio R. de Souza
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Decolonization resulted in lowering the flags in former colonies, except in the premises of the diplomatic missions of the former colonial powers. But the complex nature of colonial relations built over centuries, is still unravelling itself and not always in line with the overt political pretensions of respecting the dignity or feelings of the former colonial subjects and their new independent or autonomous states. This difficult and slow process shows up, despite sly efforts of some, when occasions arise to “commemorate” some past event that is dear to the former colonialists in the context of their national history.
The discovery of the sea route to India was one such event in the recent past. The Portuguese official interest in joint commemorations ended in failure, but it did not prevent both the Portuguese and Indian scholars from organizing stock-taking exercises. In this November, it will be the 500th anniversary of the conquest of Goa by Afonso de Albuquerque, the founder of the Portuguese colonial empire in Asia. Some Portuguese scholars are itchy and one Coimbra-based researcher voiced his surprise on Goa Research Net about an “eerie” silence. One quick and provocative response from a respectable veteran US-based Goan novelist was: “I have an eerie feeling that old wounds are being allowed to heal…”
Such commemorative anxieties or hangovers, represent the continued colonial tendency in post-colonial moulds to conceive the history of ex-colonial people as a chapter of one’s own national history. This is precisely what D.D. Kosambi, a Goa-born Indian cultural historian denounced in strong terms, and challenged the Goans to reconstruct their history as a process of their development across times, both more distant and more recent than the European colonial interlude. This advice does not in any way call for ignoring any historical markers, but the calendar and the agenda need not be dictated by outsiders. If the Kadambas, the Vijayanagara rulers, the Adil Shahi sultans, the Chatrapatis and Peshwas were still around, how many other historical events would Goans have to commemorate?
The “eerie” silence has been broken by Angela Barreto Xavier, a Lisbon-based Goan historian, whose Invention of Goa I reviewed in Herald (3 Jan 2009) under the caption Gudhameva Jayate (http://www.scribd.com/doc/9690046/Guddhameva-Jayate). She has just compiled a dossier on “Goa 1510-2010” for the journal Ler História (n. 58 – 2010, pp. 7-135). Admittedly, very little time at disposal did not permit her to plan a better job. She is happy though, with what she has achieved. She has presented us with a collection of six essays contributed by three Indians (including one Goan) and three Portuguese scholars. The front cover is illustrated by a late 19th century or early 20th century Barreto Xavier family photo in a nice and classic studio pose. We should appreciate the initiative of their descendant-historian Angela Barreto Xavier to force a reflection on the colonial past with warts and all.
The collection of essays brings some brave new ideas of Jason Keith Fernandes and less known information about Gerson da Cunha by Filipa Vicente. Jason seeks to draw a parallel between the colonial manipulations of Afonso Mexia and a present-day Association established in 1995 for defending the traditional rights of the Goan village communities. He also strays into reflections about equal citizenship that was granted repeatedly to Goans at various times. Apparently because it was never put into practice? He refers to the Portuguese republic. It was earlier done by Marquis de Pombal. He could check earlier cases when some Catholic Goans were refused titles of nobility on the grounds that they could only be conceded to Portuguese citizens!
Historical rigour is not obviously a forte of the anthropologist-sociologist Jason Keith Fernandes. With the exception of Filipa Vicente (whose work I reviewed in Herald of February 22 ) and to some extent Cristiana Bastos (who has added to what we knew so far about the Goa Medical School), all the other essays contain a rehash of obiter dicta and hardly laudatory for the Portuguese pioneering role in introducing Asia to early modernity. Filipa Vicente seeks to explain why so much of the brilliant work by Gerson da Cunha remains unknown in Portugal. This is only a foretaste of her more detailed study in preparation.
Pamila Gupta and Nandini Chaturvedula have produced fine pieces that unintendedly convey well, much that needs to be dissected and laid bare when occasions arise for commemorative exercises. Their essays make us perceive the Portuguese modernity as a mix of the saintly perfume of the incorrupt body of St Francis Xavier that overwhelmed the pious and the scent of the mogarins (?) and much else that made the bailadeiras irresistible despite legislative and inquisitorial efforts to exorcise them. Even though Afonso de Albuquerque initiated his imperial conquest of Goa with the ruthless bloodshed of nearly 6000 Muslims in Goa, his project of mixed-marriages, despite oppositions of some kind, continued down the centuries with generous shedding of sperm rather than blood. It even helped comparing more positively the Portuguese colonialism as we can read on p. 112.
In the essay of Paulo Varela Gomes the promised novelty of a new perspective is hardly clear, and much of his historical narrative is far from new. The example of two churches of Telaulim and Divar, associated with Fr. Antonio Frias is generalized to the whole of Goa and other regions of the Padroado in India. We are told that Goan priests took charge of the parishes and did not have to negotiate with the rulers in the planning and construction of their churches. A tall claim indeed. That is why the Goan priests had to be accused of sedition and deported to Portugal in 1787 in the incident called Conspiracy of Pintos? Besides insufficient use of sources, including updated studies in Konkani about the churches, Paulo Varela Gomes could re-check if Mateus de Castro wrote a treatise or a few pages, and if that was written in Portuguese or in Latin. That could be a test of his research accuracy.
The back cover is illustrated with a colourful image of some Indian spices. That makes me think of Portuguese sarrabulho converted into sarpatel, just like the other conversions, including that of Goan souls. The process goes on and in post-colonial times, Indian recipes are cooked in European kitchens, producing what may result into Luso-Indian culinary art. Translated into academic research, it is easy to dole out some euros to some young Indian researchers, satisfying thereby the self-interest of career promotion and the latest demands of the research-funding agencies for institutional partnership and internationalization. The European chefs will continue inventing the post-colonial recipes, just as they did with oriental ones in the colonial past. Qualified and cheap Indian labour will be available to provide a good helping hand. Caveat Emptor!
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Of Need and Greed
By Adelmo Fernandes
Not so long ago the Goa Chief Minister made a startling statement which caused quite a flutter among the citizens of state. He told the aam admi that he does not need their votes. The Hon. Chief Minister could have probably set some sort of a record by being the only politician in the entire universe to have passed such a remark. The plain truth is that no individual has survived and will ever survive in the world of politics without the support of his people. Making such a statement could probably mean committing political suicide. The Chief Minister has probably forgotten the dictum ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed.’ There could have probably been several reasons for him to pass such a comment. He could probably have been in a bad mood or he could be over-confident. Or he could have even been arrogant at that point of time. Many say that the most probable reason could be that he does not bank on the votes of the local people since he has his own vote-bank which probably consists of migrants. After all any vote counts, any vote is good enough to come to power. Such a statement can be likened to a person telling his or her spouse that he does not need him/her anymore. Be that as it may, every human being has needs. Some needs are vital for our very survival, other needs are not so necessary while we do not need some of our so called ‘needs’. True happiness lies in knowing our needs and differentiating them from our greed. It is but natural to need something, but the trouble starts when greed creeps in. Our Chief Minister has, in a way demonstrated, that he is not a ‘greedy’ person; he has no greed for the people’s vote. Whether this will sound his death-knell will be known at the time of elections. We need everything that has been given to us by the Almighty. We need the air we breathe, the food we eat, the house we live in and the money we earn to make a living. But then, when it comes to money-matters, greed tends to overtake our needs. That is when the trouble starts. Someone rightly said “There is enough in this world for everyone’s needs, but not for everyone’s greed . It is because of the greed of a handful of people that the needs of the majority of the people cannot be taken care of. This is probably one of the main reasons for the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor. True satisfaction is when you learn to live within your needs. “There are two things to aim for in life: first to get what you want; and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest achieve the second” wrote Logan Pearsall. But then there could be a thin dividing line between need and greed. So much so, that some may actually find it difficult to know whether they are in need or if it is greed. That is probably why the word ‘need’ rhymes with the word ‘greed’. “To be clever enough to get all the money, one must be stupid enough to want it” wrote G.K. Chesterton.
But then what is true about money is not true about votes. You cannot be considered stupid if you, as a politician, crave for all the votes. So it would seem suicidal for a seasoned politician to tell the electorate that he does not need their votes. After all no politician can have enough of it (read as votes or money).
