Women, Portuguese culture and Diaspora : Women from Goa in New Zealand and cultural adaptation

New Zealand is a nation of Migrants. Immigrants have played a significant role in the country’s economic growth and cultural development. With a population of four million people, New Zealand’s population is becoming increasingly culturally diverse. Almost one in five New Zealanders were born overseas, rising to one in three in its largest city, Auckland. Asians are the fastest growing ethnic group, increasing by around 140% since 1996. Indians account for 1.2% of the population (Statistics New Zealand, 2002). The Goan community in New Zealand is relatively small and its size is not formally recorded, however, anecdotally it appears to have grown to over 200 families in the Auckland area, with most arriving after 1996. For women who migrate, loneliness and isolation have been identified as the most ‘glaring’ experience and this is intensified by the loss of extended family networks when they migrate to a country where nuclear families are the norm (Leckie, 1995). The creation of new networks and maintenance of prior networks in new ways is crucial to the successful settlement and integration into a new country. This paper reports on how Goan, Indian women in Auckland, New Zealand used specific strategies to manage the adjustment to living in a new country. The findings reveal that participants used a variety of skills to settle in New Zealand such as cultivating a “can do” attitude, obtaining support and learning. These skills enabled them to move beyond their own culture and begin to take active part in New Zealand culture. However, this process was not immediate and the participants passed through a number of stages along a continuum of settlement and integration. These stages will be discussed below and situated within a body of literature.

Women on March in Goa : the gender transition in Higher Education after the Statehood

This paper attempts to address the interesting phenomenon of dominance of women in higher educational sector of Goa-a remarkable postcolonial event which occurred after Goa attained statehood in 1987. The Indian state of Goa has been experiencing a rapid socio-economic and cultural transformation. At present it enjoys many of the highest human development indicators in India, matching some of the developed countries. Its’ projected population at present is 1.45 million (Indian decennial census 2001 reported 1.348 million). When the Portuguese rule ended, the literacy was just 31 % whereas it stood at 82 % in 2001. Goa is a highly urbanized state in India. In 1960 there were just five towns and 15 % urban population. In 2001 the figures were, 44 towns and 50 % urban population. On economic front Goa has made tremendous progress mainly on account of the growth of mining, tourism and the service sector. Tourist arrivals in Goa have exceeded the state’s population from 2001. The Gross state domestic product (GSDP) at current prices in 2003-04 was Indian Rupees (Rs.) 96570 million, up from Rs. 3930 million when Goa became a full-fledged state. The banks are flush with funds indicating a booming economy. Goa has lowest birth and death rates and a life expectancy of 68 years for the males and 72 for females. The sex ratio however has shown a declining trend since 1960, from 1066 to 960 in 2001 (Table 1).The sex ratio for 0-6 years age group was 933. On this background we intend to examine the changing pattern of female education in Goa.

Women in Post –1961 Goa : Problems and Challenges

When the women of Goa begin to reminiscence about the last four and a half decades of Goan history it will be a journey of mixed responses, for the women’s movement has witnessed gains and losses, successes and failures, times of expression and times of being silenced, times of vibrant activity and times of lulls and importantly, times of prolonged protests against markets and developmental forces, and media projections. For decades the women of Goa have taken a vociferous stand against arbitrary Development practices that the Government has attempted to foist upon the people of the State and especially its women. For decades the women of Goa have demanded for a gendered perspective and an equal representation in the development processes in the State.

Castes, Social Mobility and Politics in Goa

While the colonial policies and the missionary activities dented the caste system by playing upon the caste rivalries to divide and rule, the post-independence Indian democracy transformed the traditional castes into valuable vote-banks that have permitted non-brahmin castes to achieve political leadership in several States, particularly following the politics of reservation recommended by the Mandal Commission in 1980s.

Panchayati Raj em Goa

Goa commemorated in 2011 the golden jubilee of the end of colonialism (19 December 1961) and the beginning of its participation in the democratic institutions of India. The administrative decentralization known as Panchayati Raj is an ancient tradition in India, but it suffered dilution and breaks during centuries of Muslim and British domination. During the early years of Independence, the Union government was more worried about security concerns, and hence the policies of centralization. However, the second five-year plan and during the decades of 50 and 60 one could notice greater openness towards decentralization. This was done through Constitution Amendment Act nº 73 (1992) and the inclusion of article 243 in Part IX of the Constitution. The present essay seeks to clarify how the Panchayati Raj is the key to the success of the Indian democracy in the context of its demographic magnitude and ethnic, religious and linguistic diversities. Obviously, the challenges persist, but a country like India would be ungovernable without a democratic functionality at its bottom. It would be interesting to reflect and discover if Portugal has anything to benefit from the democratic experience of India and one of the fast growing emergent economies of the world.

A Portuguese Embassy to Siam in 1595 and Some Curious Observations

Information culled from the bio-account of Couttre, a Flemish jewel-trader, about a Portuguese embassy to Siam.

Lógicas imperiais e processos contemporâneos

É uma análise das lógicas coloniais-imperiais portuguesas a partir de nove memórias publicadas em Goa e em Portugal. São cinco os autores goeses e quatro portugueses. Quaquer delas já vem tarde para intervir e alterar o rumo. São pós-visões do passado, e o pós-visionismo põe em risco a capacidade de captar a contemporaneidade dos processos que acompanharam as lógicas imperiais. Mas acho que podem ter algum valor positivo de apanhar as implicações destes processos a longo prazo. As transições e a continuidade merecem ser levadas em conta para avaliar melhor os processos que nos interessam e que não podem ser estudados validamente somente na sua contemporaneidade e isolados do seu passado e do seu futuro. É com esta perspectiva de “processos contemporâneos” que eu pensei em chamar a atenção para a utilidade das memórias “recém-publicadas” de alguns actores que participaram nesses processos. Quero deixar um caveat: São também armadilhas “montadas” e que nos podem distrair do verdadeiro caminho para a compreensão dos mesmos processos.

Cativas e Bichas, Meninas e Moças : a subalternidade social feminina e a formação do mercado matrimonial de Macau (1590-1725)

A história social de Macau constitui um campo de estudo largamente por cultivar, mais ainda quando se procura reconstruir e interpretar a circulação de crianças, jovens e mulheres que, de origem fundamentalmente chinesa e asiática, em profunda situação de subalternidade e exploração sociais, foram concorrendo quase paradoxalmente para a sobrevivência de uma presença política, económica, cultural e simbólica que se reivindicava «portuguesa». No território macaense, distinguindo-se do que se passava em outros espaços coloniais, como Goa ou o Brasil, a presença de mulheres europeias é praticamente inexistente ou fragmentária até quase finais do século XIX, quando o estado central começa sistematicamente a funcionalizar e a assalariar as longínquas administrações, contingentes militares e burocracias coloniais. Em rigor, de forma generalizada, a presença social portuguesa nos diferentes enclaves asiáticos que se organizavam sob a tutela político-institucional do chamado «Estado da Índia», da África Oriental a Timor, não mobilizava mulheres de origens europeias, descontados alguns exemplos, aventuras e esforços de circulação de orfãs, maioritariamente limitados ao enclave goês,2 mas quase sem expressão no devir social de Macau.

La gouvernance, point noir de l´émergence indienne

India's Constitution is not a covenant, or compact, between the states. The states are the creation of Constitution and subsequently of Parliament. Article 2 of the Constitution empo-wers Parliament to admit into Union, or establish new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit . Article 3 gives more comprehensive powers to Parliament for formation of new states and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of the existing States.The Indian Constitution not only permits, but also ordains various States to enact special laws to limit the ownership of land only to some designated residents. Goa does not have to reinvent the wheel. As a full-fledged State of the Indian Union it has to only convince the Union government that the ground of its legitimacy as a State is doomed without the Special Status which may empower the State Government to adopt legal instruments to safeguard its cultural and territorial identity and integrity, the ground of its Statehood.

Empires, Religion & Trade

The Indian Ocean became the meeting point of two emerging empires in the early 16th century: the Mughal and the Portuguese empires, both different in their nature and objectives. While the Mughals were the dominant land power in the Indian subcontinent, the Portuguese dominated the coastal waters and the sea lanes They influenced each other’s fortunes, and of the region as a whole.