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On Sun, 31 Oct 2004, godfrey gonsalves wrote:
Well this was a question from one of the netizens.
To do so please go the Parish Church where you were born. Check up the Baptismal Register and you will find your occupation which indirectly will reveal your caste.
I don't think this is true, and migration (along with other factors) have certainly blurred the occupation-caste link, at least for the Goan Catholic.
For instance, I've heard of 'upper' caste persons who took on work as 'servants' aboard ocean-going ships; obviously earning in a foreign currency made more sense (in whatever job) rather than a hierarchical position in society.
On the other hand, I often recount this story of how the most-educated and fluent-in-English person I could meet in Solapur while covering an election there years ago, was a Dalit. (Of course, this is in a context beyond that of Catholic Goans, but makes the point as well.)
And better still ask your co-villagers and presto you will get the reply. For the Hindus their surnames reveal which caste you belong too. And ofcourse your co-villagers as well.
This is true. If you go to the old churches of Old Goa (and probably elsewhere), you might be surprised to find the tombstones stating the caste of the person buried there, quite nonchalantly, almost as if it were a kind of nationality or something ;-)
Incidentally, I think the role of the Church towards caste needs a sharper understanding. I might be wrong on this, but my impression is that the post-1961 Church has a distinct embarassment about it and tries to get rid of its past, in terms of how it dealt with caste.
In conflicts like Cuncolim, the Church seemed fairly supportive of pushing for reform. But priests (or one-time priests) like Danzil Dias and Michael Fernandes have argued in favour of reform coming quicker. Does anyone with a better understanding tell us whether there has been a shift in the perspectives between the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s? I would not be surprised if this were the case, given how much the Church has had to change here in recent years (though it still has a lot more to change too.)
But, do you really think it's worth digging up these skeletons from the past? If you went through so much of life without the hang-ups of caste (either superiority-based or ones of inferiority) troubling you, then good for you!
In fact for fear of ones caste being revealed many Goans settled outside their native villages dread to reveal the village they belong to. Or just say " I dont know to which caste I belong to" Or I dont believe in caste -- I am "GENERAL" caste ???
Better still, just ask the person interrogating you, "Do you mean to ask which caste I'm from?" and see their response. I don't think anyone who believes that caste (like religion, nationality, skin-colour, race, etc) are just accidents of birth, need to feel defensive about such issues.
FN
