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.

Edward Said Um Intelectual Crítico e Cosmopolita

Edward Said, palestiniano cidadão do mundo, historiador crítico da literatura e da cultura preocupa-se em analisar e desmistificar as representações ideológicas que afirmam a superioridade de uma cultura sobre as outras. Em Orientalismo , publicado originalmente em 1978, demonstra como o colonialismo europeu constrói uma representação do mundo oriental, especialmente do mundo árabe e muçulmano, em que os representados surgem como seres incapazes de autonomia, racionalidade e autogoverno. Como contraponto a esta concepção, desenvolve-se, no período da emancipação e das independências coloniais, uma nova visão em que os povos colonizados de mero objecto de representação se transformam em sujeitos da sua própria história. Em Cultura e Imperialismo , publicado em 1993, Said analisa como os intelectuais e os criadores dos povos dominados elaboram uma nova representação de si próprios e do Outro no âmbito do processo de luta e emancipação colonial. Mas apenas a livre interacção e interdependência das culturas poderá constituir uma síntese superadora do imperialismo e do nacionalismo anticolonial. Dimensão libertadora que se tornará a verdadeira missão e vocação do intelectual sem fronteiras de que Said foi um dos maiores expoentes contemporâneos.