>From Post-Colonial to Neo-Colonial: Perils and Prospects Facing Goan Culture Today
By Anthony Gomes The aftermath of the Second World War saw the gradual dismantling of colonialism and colonial empires that left behind a legacy of post-colonial cultures in the colonized countries around the globe. This post-colonial culture was often a fusion of the original culture of the colonized people with that of the colonizer, creating a de novo-culture the aim of which was often to advance the colonial and imperial agenda of the colonizer. There is considerable agreement among the scholars of colonial/post-colonial studies that colonialism benefited the colonizer at the expense of the colonized. As far back as the late 1800s, anti-colonialists of the time like Al-Afghani claimed that the marked improvement in India's transport system and the Western-style education system established by the British was essentially to drain India's wealth and facilitate trade for British businessmen and to turn Indians into English speaking lackeys of the British administration, respectively. However, the reverse may partly be true when examined in-hindsight: in this regard one might argue that there might not have been the nation of India we know of today, and the widely spoken English language which has benefited the citizens of India in a globalized commercial world. On the other hand one cannot ignore the fact that the carving of the Indian subcontinent and the Middle-East has left its dire political and socio-economic repercussions that are widely felt to this day. Whatever the merits and demerits, there is no doubt that colonialism and subjugation of a people was immoral. Furthermore, one never knows how far a culture might have advanced left to its own means, its needs, and its methods. In the past, however, the ills of colonialism for the most part were presented and even romanticized by the colonizers as "the extension of Civilization," which ideologically justified the self-ascribed superiority (racial, cultural and religious) of the Western (European) world over the non-Western world, which Joseph-Ernest Renan theorized in *La Réforme intellectuel et morale* (1871), wherein an imperial power would affect the intellectual and moral reformation of the colored peoples of the lesser cultures of the world. Needless to say, such an ideology assumes the superiority of the culture of the colonizer over the colonized. Notably, La mission civilisatrice, the civilizing mission of the French Empire, proposed that some races and cultures have a higher purpose in life, whereby the more powerful, more developed, and more civilized races have the right to, and even perhaps an obligation to colonize other people, in service to the noble idea of "civilization" and its economic benefits. In *The Wretched of the Earth* (1961), the psychiatrist Frantz Fanon described the nature of colonialism as essentially destructive and harmful to the mental health of the subjugated colored people in the colonies. Fanon advocated violent resistance arguing that it is a cathartic process which purges colonial servility from the native psyche, and restores self-respect to the colonized. It is noteworthy however that more than fifty years before Frantz Fanon's social and political assessment of colonial subjugation, Mohandas Gandhi had organized campaigns for Hind Swaraj to resist British colonial rule over the people of India. Edward W. Saïd, on the other hand, devised the term Orientalism, wherein the West created the concept of the East allowing the European suppression of the people of the Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and of Asia, and enabling Westerners to express and represent themselves as discrete peoples and cultures. Portuguese colonialism Portuguese colonialism as a whole, and specifically that of Goa, has not been a part of the post-colonial debate among scholars of colonialism, which focused mostly on British post-colonialism in Asia and Africa. However, the degree and severity of colonialism both in terms of exploitation, cruelty, and religious conversion varied substantially among the European colonizers and the lands they colonized. The scope of this article does not lend itself to a lengthy discussion of this issue. Gilberto Freire, a renowned Brazilian sociologist proposed the concept of Luso-Tropicalismo, presenting the idea during a lecture in Goa in 1952, that portrayed Portugal's colonialism as soft, non-racist, and non-exploitative. Unfortunately, some elements of this concept can be hotly debated in the face of the Portuguese Inquisition in Goa, the massacres associated with the Pintos (1787) and the Margao revolts (1890), and in regards to Portuguese colonialism in Africa and the slave trade. Luso-Tropicalismo, however, was subsequently used by the Novo Estado of Salazar as a justification to hold on to the so called, Portuguese overseas provinces. Nonetheless, unlike Great Britain, Portugal did give its colonies the right of representation, and indeed, commercial exploitation of Goa was almost non-existent. In contrast, the same cannot be said of British colonialism of the Indian sub-continent. The ruthless exploitation of a large area of eastern India by the British East India Company, even before the entire country was subjugated was expressed by the Bengali novelist, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who wrote: "The world has never seen men as tyrannical and powerful as the people who first founded the Britannic empire in India...." The opium wars and the destruction of the summer palace remain as one of the most humiliating acts wrought by the British and the French on the Chinese. Rabindranath Tagore, in an essay written in 1881, wondered at how a whole nation of China had been forced to accept opium for the sole purpose of commercial greed. It can be said that on the whole, barring some developments in the post-1950 era, Goa, together with other Portuguese colonies remained, at what Edward W. Saïd has referred to as a paradigmatic fossilized provinces. This is not surprising since the whole Iberian Peninsula -- Portugal under Salazar, and Spain under Franco -- remained fossilized countries in contrast to most other European States under democratic governments. Goan Culture In Goa, the Indo-Portuguese culture was well ingrained and even gladly accepted in some quarters after 451 years of Portuguese rule. This has been described as Lusitanization of the Goan, what Dr. Tristao Braganza Cunha interpreted as de-nationalization of the Goan. Whether this came about via a peaceful osmosis by way of intellectual thought and acceptance or through violence (such as that perpetrated by the Inquisition) remains debatable. Although there are historical documentations about the severity of the Inquisition in Goa, unfortunately, there is no novel or a contemporary story or narrative written by a Goan of the times that tells this tragic human story. In my perspective, a crisis of identity always existed in the Goan to varying degrees, but here, there was a palpable difference between the Catholic and the Hindu, and those from South Goa vs. North Goa. This identity crisis remained deeper and stronger in the Hindu population; whereas it was less evident in the majority of the Catholic population of the upper caste, who over the years assimilated the Portuguese, European culture though Occidentalization; the same however cannot be said of the Catholic peasant. It needs to be pointed out however, that the vast majority of the people of Goa did not feel or profess that they were "Portuguese," culturally speaking, but rather, singularly "Goan." As far back as the late 1800s, the great Goan intellectual, novelist (*Os Brahmanes*) and parliamentarian, Francisco Luis Gomes, readily acknowledged his birthplace within the race that wrote the Mahabharata and invented chess. Undoubtedly, there is a unique Goan (Indo-Portuguese) culture that is common to both Hindu and Catholic with different trajectories. That culture is the product of Portuguese rule of 451 years that gave Goa its distinct cuisine, the common civil code -- probably the most valuable living legacy left by the Portuguese, the baroque churches, the body of St Francis Xavier, a folk culture consisting of the Konkani teatr, the Mando and the dulpod; in addition to the many other age old customs existing before Portuguese arrival including the very idea and construct of the Comunidades, the Hindu religion and its festivals, and the Indian caste system, the latter, maintained and incorporated within the Luso-Indian culture. The suppression of the local Konkani language at the expense of Portuguese did not foster a body of literature in either language within this culture; nor did it foster visual art forms such as painting, sculpture (except religious art in Churches), and museums during the colonial period. Although there are substantial variations in this culture between the Catholic and the Hindu of the upper/lower/tenant class, and caste, there are some commonalities as well. Several elements including the raj angan, the kuddi, the vassary and the oratory or prayer room seen in Goan Catholic families are remnants of their Hindu heritage. Additionally, it is not entirely uncommon to see many of the old Catholic families send gifts to their ancestral Hindu gods, sometimes also discreetly partaking in Hindu devotional ceremonies. This is true of the Catholic peasant as well. Similarly, Hindus, especially among the peasants, are often seen worshiping Catholic deities. Furthermore, Hindu and Christian religious worship did create a common and syncretic identity by fusing the Mother Goddess cults with the cult of the Virgin Mary; similar religious fusion is also seen in other cultures: those of the Caribbean and the Brazilian of African descent are a couple of examples. This Goan phenomenon is not readily seen in other parts of India, and perhaps accounts for the peaceful nature of the Goan as well as harmonious Goan way of life without communal violence. It may be argued that this was also the result of economic conditions during the colonial period, and to soft feudal practices (relative to the rest of India). Whatever the reasons, the communal harmony is undoubtedly an important element of a civilized Goan culture, which should be preserved at all cost. Neo-colonization of Goa The post-colonial culture of Goa underwent a significant metamorphosis after 1961, since, unlike India under the British, Goa did not achieve its freedom by either a referendum or the Portuguese having ceded Goa to Goans. The 1961 Indian annexation of Goa (also referred to as the Liberation of Goa, the Invasion of Goa, and the Portuguese-Indian War) was a military action by India's armed forces that ultimately ended Portuguese colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent. Immediately after December 1961, a Military Governor was appointed by India, and most government officials, including the Dean and the professorial staff at the medical school (one of the oldest in Asia, and the only school of highest learning at the time) came from other parts of India; albeit a few of these individuals were of Goan origins who were making a living in India. Likewise, most of the professors and teachers at the newly formed private and government colleges came from other parts of India as well. This brought about a dramatic change from the Portuguese to the Indo-British system with the incorporation of English as the medium of education. The Portuguese language was relegated to extinction notwithstanding the fact that it was spoken by a small segment of the population. These changes however were not unexpected; besides, the Indo-British education system had already taken root in Goa much before 1961. A battle between Konkani and Marathi as the mother-tongue ensued as soon as a democratically elected government of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party took control. It is reasonable therefore to argue that the immediate post-1961 period represented a form of neo-colonization by India. The people of Goa rapidly adjusted to the new changes and the Goan culture stabilized thereafter until the 1980s without further metamorphosis. However, the decision to exploit Goa's Western heritage and promote Goa as a hot-bed of beach-tourism opened a Pandora's Box. The last two decades have seen rapid and considerable progress and development on an extensive scale; some of it highly positive culturally like the flourishing Goan art scene, drama, and a surging body of literature in several languages including English, Konkani and Marathi from those living in Goa and from the diaspora Goans. Additionally, Goa has the highest per capita income in India, and it ranks fourth in literacy rate in all of India. On the other hand, there are several destructive elements that weigh heavily on the Goan psyche and well-being that include: environmental, sanitation, infra-structural debacles in towns and cities, illegal mining (all mining suspended since October 2012, by order of the Supreme Court of India, after the Shah Commission Report on rampant illegal mining), waste disposal issues, illicit drug use, foreign mafias, apparent "occupation" of some of the once pristine beaches by foreign elements, and rampant corruption. Needless to say, the greed and thirst for money, and corruption from the bottom-up that is rampant within and beyond the India of today, is the root of many of these evils. It has been claimed that a substantial segment of the current 1.5 million population of Goa is from other states and even other countries. Apparently, more and more land, jobs, assets and government contracts are passing into the hands of people from beyond the region at an alarming rate. Consequently, its post-colonial and even its neo-colonial culture is in considerable flux and runs the risk of further metamorphosis. However, constant changes in the population landscape are a fact of life and have created hybrid cultures no matter where one lives. Moreover, Goans themselves have immigrated to other parts of India and all over the world. If the waves of migrants enrich the local culture by contributing to the richness of a city or country in the context of its past heritage then everyone benefits, like in the American experiment. However, one needs to be cognizant of the fact that Goa is a small enclave and therefore runs the risk of assimilation to the point of cultural extinction. The Future of Goa Needless to say, in a globalized world, any culture needs space for a healthy evolution. I strongly believe in education, industrial development, and the use of our natural resources, such as our rich topography and our beaches to attract tourism. However, all of this has to be tempered with a sense of the land: its environment, its needs, and its people. The people of Goa must come together to see that its land, its forests, and hills are not polluted and chopped up for mining and haphazard construction of walled enclaves; additionally, issues such as drug trafficking, garbage disposal, corruption etc. needs to be addressed to protect Goa's legacy and to ensure the very preservation of Goa's topography, and identity for posterity. In this regard it is imperative that the government of Goa appoint an independent Commission consisting of Goans in the private sector, representatives from the clergy, judicial, and the ecological field, to study, report and recommend changes in favor of maintaining the unique topography of the land of Goa, and its rich cultural heritage before it's too late. ----------------------------------------------- Anthony Gomes, MD, FACC, FAHA, is Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. The writer is of Goan origins and the author of several books including: *Signal Averaged Electrocardiography: Basic Concepts, Methods and Applications*, *Visions from Grymes Hill*, *The Sting of Peppercorns*, and *Mirrored Reflections*. The author would like to express his gratitude to Prof. Basilio Monteiro, Prof VM (Nitant) Kenkre, Victor R. Ribeiro, Dr. Isabel Santa Rita Vas, and Tanya Mendonsa for their comments on this article. FOOTNOTE: For two views on the Inquisition, see http://www.ebay.in/itm/The-Goa-Inquisition-A-K-Priolkar-The-Terribunal-for-the-East-/140935577309 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnAToomzc00