Lectio Brevis

The Other Orientalism and the Challenge and Opportunities for the Church  in Goa

By Fr. Victor Ferrao,

Rachol Seminary

Edward Said’s magnum opus, Orientalism,[1] has exposed the epistemic violence of the West . In the same vein Dipesh  Charavorthy  has laid bare how we Indians have cultivated and exoticized  Europe of our imagination.[2] While we can be can sympathize with the noble projects of both Said and Chakravorty , we cannot certainly accept that there is a single monadic, essentialist and substantive  conceptualization of oreintalism  or  grant that there is a single imagination of Europe. Both Said and Chakravorty  admit the complexities of their theoretical frameworks.  Yet one might  trace that majority of the Indian intellectuals seem to feed on the Anglo-germanic  orientalism and have almost forgotten that there are other orientalisms that operate parallel to the mainstream orietalism that they follow. This main stream orientalism has almost orientalized  the intellectuals of India. Some have become sucked into the  project of construction of  the orient as mystical other  of rational Europe.  This attempts have succinctly been psychoanalytically  nuanced as the shadow  side of the West  by Ashis Nandy , which  functions as the inversion of the West. Since enlightenment, the dominant representation of Western  culture  seems to have subordinated its own aspects  of culture and tradition that are viewed as Dionysian ( those trends that have been  viewed as  irrational, poetic , uncivilized and feminine as opposed to the Apollonian). The projection of the mystical character on the orient legitimated the domination as well as colonization of the East by the West.

The subaltern studies collective and postcolonial scholars like Gayatri Sipvak,  Homi Bahaba, and others have  produced a substantive  critique of orientalism and have exposed  the politics  of knowledge that produced  the asymmetrical power relations  within the West and the East.  But all these studies have mostly dealt with the Anglo-germanic  shades of orientalism  and have not considered the lusophonic  orientalism. The lusophonic orientalism cannot be reduced to a mono-form of a   stereotype.  There  is definitely dynamic pluralism into it.[3] But the fact that it is forgotten by Indian intellectuals is certainly impoverishing  our  intellectual gaze.  This lusotopic  orientalism that was experienced by the Goans can definitely open new  windows to look at India. Goans  have not only  experienced lusotopic  orientalism but have also  have been swept by an  indology  soaked in Anglo-germanic  orientalism.  Hence, this study attempt to de-center the power relations  involved in the history of ideas both as subject  of analysis and disciplinary regime of institutionalized knowledge. Hence, lusoptopic orientalism is an alternative orientalism that can illumine both how we view India as well as Goa. Indeed, this project has the potency to explore how the main stream orientalism that has become the heritage of all continues to affect us and can be renewed from and for the marginal locations like Goa.

Hence, we join the movement that is greeted as Occidentalism.[4]  It is a counter field of research that is developed in the orient to study the West from the Non-Western point of view.  The West in its quest to expand its borders attempted to understand the people of the East better  in order to dominate better.   Thus, orientalism was born as a western activity, an expression of  Western Elan Vital , determining the power of the relationship of the West and its  other, between the Europe on one side and Asia, Africa and Latin America on the other side.  Orientalism converts the West into a knowing subject and the East into a known object. But Occidentalism switches a change in the roles of the East and the West as the East becomes the knowing subject and the West becomes the known object.  The Cogito ergo sum of the West becomes studio ergo sum of the East.[5]  Among the different shades of Occidentalism, one must prefer a constructive Occidentalism that strives to build a sane inter-subjective relationship  between the East and the West.

Thus, Occidentalism is a de-colonial movement.  It is an attempt to shift the balance of power within the politics of knowledge.  The Occidentalism that I have proposed in this context is different from the one that is studied by the  Ian Buruma and  Avishai Margalit in their Book Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of its Enemies which tries to capture the hostile Islamist reaction to the West.[6] Our use of the term Occidentalism is also not associated with the use of  same by Walter Mignolo, who uses it to refer to the universal cosmology or modernity monotopical  while opting for a pluritopical  pluriversality  of worlds and knowledges otherwise. Mignolo  succinctly argues that modernity is inescapably conjoined with  history and reality of what he calls coloniality. Coloniality does not just refers to the Western covert colonial occupation, but also to the overbearing West’s ongoing economic, political, and epistemological domination throughout the world. He asserts that coloniality is the dark side of modernity. Occidentalism for Mignolo is the location from where the world was classified and ranked.[7]  What Mignolo calls occidentalism, is the point of reference that produced orientalisms.

We have deliberately chosen the term ‘other orientalism’ because it assists us to   understand the intertwining of different shades of orientalims that afflict our country.  All these orientalisms might have different occidentalisms  underpinning them.  But we use the word Occidentalism to mean the critique of these different orientalisms.  Within this critique, we place the importance of Portuguese orientalism in a prime location because it was historically first as well as significantly different from the reigning Anglo-germanic orientalism.  Though the term other orientalism is already used by Flipa Lowndes Vicente in his book, Other orientalisms: India Between Florence and Bombay, 1860-1900, to mean Italian orientalism that developed in Mumbai[8], I use it for its contrastive force that can help us to understand Lusotopic orientalism that is forgotten by the Indian intelligencia. Our work does critically view our society in the light of this other  orientalism but at the same time attempts to explore the challenges and opportunities it offers in convergence to the British orientalism to the Church in Goa.

The Different Colonization of the Portuguese

Dutch Governor Antonio Van Diemen is said to have stated in 1642 “ Most of the Portuguese  in Asia look upon this region as their  fatherland, and think no more about Portugal”.[9] With almost two centuries of colonial experience ahead of the British,  expansion in Asia, the Portuguese had developed their own  framework to interpret the cultures that they encountered.[10]  The Portuguese exhibited a different relation to the cultures they conquered. Alito Siqueira  states that this policy of the Portuguese was christened as the doctrine of assimilados (assimilated ). [11] This means the Portuguese in Goa rather than seeing the difference laid the  emphasis on the absorption of Goa and the Goans into the Portuguese culture and identity. This led to the lusitanization  of the Goans. For  the Goans to be lusitanized meant to be like the Portuguese. This lusitanization was interpreted as de-nationalization of the Goans by Dr. Tristao Braganza Cunnha.[12]  The project of assimilation and lusitanization  was successful because of the myth of the absence of racial discrimination.[13] Hence, the results were different from what has been described  by Fanon in Black Skins  and White Masks.[14]  Even in our Post-colonial times there Portugal has exhibited a strange possessiveness of the territories that it once colonized.

The Portuguese Imperative to Occidentalize

Siqueira states that there is a strong relation of identity and territory among the Portuguese.  That is why the Portuguese having come into what we now  call  Indian Union  much before the notions of evolution and racisms where generated  in a post-enlightenment era in Europe, choose to Occidentalize (lusitanize) rather than orientalize the Indian as attempted by the British colonizer.  This means its is argued that difference in the forms of Portuguese and the British colonization lie in the different historical periods their colonial enterprise operated.

We  might understand the Portuguese colonization,  if we  consider the work Johannes Fabian that attacked  the hegemonic ‘positivistic pragmatist’  philosophy of science and demonstrated that the temporal depiction of the other is stained by the ‘schizonic use of time’ . Fabian views it as the denial of coevalness’- a term that becomes the  gloss for a situation , where the other’s hierarchically distancing localization suppresses the simultaneity and the contemporaniety  of an ethnographic encounter. [15]Such a temporal distanciation banishes the other to a stage of a lesser development. Fabian christens such a denial of coevalness as the ‘allochronism’ of anthropology.[16]  Thus, in the context of Portuguese colonial enterprise, we can trace a lesser degree of allochronism that their British counter parts.  This is the reason why the Portuguese colonization that belonged to the pre-enlightenment  era primarily exhibits the imperative to Occidentalize and when influenced by the enlightenment switches to a  more forceful oreintalizing mode. The Portuguese orientalism by an large reduced difference into sameness.  They viewed the other as a mirror of themselves. Yet it still inferiorized the other because they relegated the other  to a stage in their own past. Therefore, it is said that the Portuguese perceived in the indigenous people they had conquered as reflecting their own ‘uncivilized Past’ which they wanted to erase and transcend.  This is the reason why they took upon them the civilizing mission.  One might see conversions to Catholicism in the 16^th and the 17^th century by religious fervor as well as the imperative to occidatalize in this light. Yet there was a clear hierarchy in the social order inaugurated by the Portuguese  where the white Portuguese were on the top, next followed the Mesticos , third came the native Christians and lastly the ‘Hindus’[17] and the Muslims.[18] The Portuguese sociological and historical discourse appears excessively derogatory[19] as it is soaked in their orientalism.

Other Orientalism of the Portuguese 

Allochronism being less in degree, the Portuguese orientalism is certainly distinct from the British,  French, or American experiences. It is  established  that the Portuguese hit the imagination of Europe about the East as the 16^th and the 17^th centuries circulated images from Portuguese travel narrative representing the Asian societies in Europe.[20]  By the end of the 17^th century, discourses about Asia  furnishing certain ideas and views of its societies were already relatively current across Europe.  Fernao Lopes de Castanheda’s , Joa de Barros’ , and Gaspar Correia’s expansion chronicles that were written mainly in the first half of the 16^th century depicted the Portuguese presence mainly in India and were   concerned with the need to show how powerful the emergent empire was. Indeed we can discern a Portuguese imperial gaze in the above works. Fernao Lopes de Castanheda , Gapar Correia and Afonso Albuquere  himself  write that the Portuguese could control the natives without any recourse to  violence because of the policy of inter-marriage/ Politica dos Casamentos (miscegenation) which was thought to eventually incorporate the Goans into the dominant Portuguese culture and society through a creation of a class of mixed blood  who would be loyal to the state.[21]  Many travelers uncritically accepted and disseminated the image of harmonious Goa. This harmony is inscribed in the image ‘ Goa Dourada’ (Golden Goa).  one can trace this picture of Goa from Albuquerque to Linschoten, Thevenot , Giovanni Francesco Gemelli  Carreri , Pietro  della Valle, Samuel Purchas , Abbe Carre , and contemporary historian like Hernani Cidade  and Jaime Cortesao. [22]

This orientalism succeeded in constructing Goa as the other India. This means Goa emerged as a space of difference  within India.  Indeed, Goa become the capital of the Portuguese possessions in the East. During the liberation debate Portuguese dictator Slazar argued that Goa was the province of Portugal and Goans were Portuguese citizens.  He further stated this province was in existence for four fifty years and India as a nation was of recent origin.[23]

Dynamic Cross-pollination of Portuguese Orientalism

Portuguese orientalism like other orientalisms cannot be viewed from an essentialist, positivist, reductionist and overly homogenized framework. Such an approach occludes the dynamic cross-pollination and hybridization every shade of orientalism and results from an academic myopia.  It evolved in relation and interaction with other orientalims and their impact on the contexts in the colonies. Hence, it is important for us to discern the subtle dynamism that shaped Portuguese orientalism.

Orientalism as a Fusion of Horizons

Knowledge as the product of a detached, dispassionate  and neutral  researcher is no longer tenable.  The notion of objective and value free knowledge has come under increasingly critical scrutiny in the light of developments in Hermeneutics.  Following Martin Heidegger , we have come to accept that understanding is the fundamental way of being in the world.[24]  Hans George Gadamer takes this insight further and teaches that one cannot avoid being involved in interpretation by virtue of one’s historical situated-ness (facticity of ones being-in-the world). Gadamer locates the ills that affect our quest for objectivity in enlightenment.  He teaches that enlightenment thought displays the prejudice against prejudice. He clearly points out that our understanding is condition by the past (our tradition), as well as our present circumstances and agendas (prejudices).  The prejudice derives itself from what Gadamer calls ‘effective history’ that is our historical situated-ness that provide the basic framework that facilitates understanding.[25]  Our prejudice is never really purely individual since it remains constrained by the past interpretations of our traditions. This is why we cannot accuse Gadamer of crass subjectivism or relativism.

This means one cannot understand anything without relating to ones being-in-the world. There is no universal bird’s eye view or God’s vantage point for anyone.  Meaning results from the fusion of horizons.[26]  The interpreter’s horizon is fused with the horizon of the author.  There is no univocal meaning. In this sense, there is no univocal orientalism. Different orientalisms are born in their interactions of diverse European traditions with the Eastern traditions. Thus, for instance, the  mis-identification of the than ‘Hindu’ Goddess as exotic image of Mother Mary and the temple as a Christian church  by Vasco de Gamma  clearly demonstrates how a fusion of  horizons of two distinct traditions results in the emergence of Portuguese orientalism.[27] Alito Sigueira and Alexander  Henn greet this moment as the emergence of early modernity where a Portuguese is confronted by otherness, which he in the beginning assimilates into sameness.

Portuguese Orientalism as Isogetical           

Following  Gadamer , we must admit that meaning is isogetical  in so far as it involves an unconscious  reading  into the text.  There is a degree of isogensis or reading into and therefore prejudicing aspects of the encounter with another tradition.  But this isogensis is never arbitrary. In this context, it seems more appropriate to speak of what Gilbert Ryle and Clifford Geertz  call ‘thick description.’[28]  A‘thick description’ is one that contains high degree of contextual richness-that is, an attention to the socio-cultural and historical circumstances which contribute to the meaning of an event.

This would mean that there is a continuous to and fro interaction that encounter of the Portuguese lusophonic tradition with Goan culture as well as indic culture at large that symbiotically produced what we call the Portuguese lusotopical orientalism.  Thus, orientalism does not result from isolationism and never remains strictly monolithic. All forms of Portuguese orientalisms were the result of cross fertilization. Thus, it is an immersion of the lusotopical  tradition that emerged into a complex lusitanized tradition that we might call Portuguese orientalism.  Thus, like every other orientalism, the Portuguese orientalism is also construction of the orient that is at the narcissistic best in the creation of a superior Europe.

Orientalizing Dynamics of the Portuguese Orientalism

Orientalizing the orient was not just the project of European. It was also the orientals who participated in the orientalizing the orient.  There is no pure orient any more. What exists is an orientalized orient. Hence, we must get out of occidentosis (the pathological attitude to blame all ills on the west).  The very fact that we in Goa tolerated the Portuguese rule for 450 years compels us to realistically look at our contribution to the construction of the colonial relations. This will certainly save us from extremely crass Occidentalism (dehumanizing picture of the west as painted by its enemies). Homi Baba teaches that the appropriation of the master discourse by the native is a form of resistance that takes the shape of mimicry and parody of colonial authority.[29]

Acceptance of Asymmetrical Power Relations

Goan remained colonized for four hundred fifty years.  The issue of the subjection of the Goans   to the foreign rule for a long time is also an important issue to contemplate.[30] How could Goa tolerate the foreign rule for such a long time? This acceptance of the asystmetrical power relation as normal and natural also has a Goan contribution.  The work of Jacques  Ranceire might give us some insight into the question under our consideration.  Ranciere teaches that the child has a natural capacity to learn his mother tongue without a teacher. The child understand the distribution of the sensible in his  context.  Hence, learning a mother tongue is a political act.[31]  Though a child inserts itself in the sign system of its context in a random manner yet he learns to accept its own place in the scheme of its context as he learns to speak it own mother tongue.

Now following the insights of Ranciere, we can certainly understand how Goans learn to  accept an asymmetrical power relation and tolerated the colonial  rule. This orietalization of the Goan is described in the twentieth century as denationalization of Goans by Dr. Tristao de Braganza Cunha .  This means Goans also joined in the project of orientalization and ended up accepting  their subjection without any question. Some even saw it as a  progressive step which became the foundation Goa Dourada Paradigm. Dr. Tristao  de Braganza cunha  further accuses the church as doubly denationalized  based on his own subjection to the British orientalism which led to evolution of the concept of India as a nation.  We can also trace similar indebtedness to British orientlism earlier in the work of  Gerson de Cunha.  Goa indica is born out of such a British orientalism.

The intrusion of few select Portuguese words into the Mando that were composed during the Portuguese era also indicates the orientalization of Goans. Selects words like felicade, igrand, adeus, etc have become Mando, showing how Konkani, the mother tongue of Goans was orientalized.  But is interesting that after the liberation new composition of Mando exhibits a purging  of Portuguese words.  We can also similarly, trace a movement of cleansing of Portuguese words from liturgy after liberation. Thus, we have cummunao became kristprasad, padri became Iadnik, altar became Vedi etc. This suggests that the dominant sections in Goa  under colonization lusofonized themselves and then recycled or invented themselves through   Bristish orientalism.  The Indian Government continued the Portuguese education for some time till liberation it was the Goans who choose English education against the Portuguese leading to closure of the institutions that imparted Portuguese  Education.  This is nothing but exchange of orientalisms. We can still find shades of this exchange dynamism even today with regards to the controversy that  surrounds  medium of instruction. Post-colonially, Goans seem to have engaged in the politics of exchange of British Orientalisms between the two Hindus and the Christians and both together share a lusitanized orientalism that forgets that the Muslims have a legitimate share in the story of Goa.

Double Orientalization of the Goans

 The orientalization of Goans is complex and dynamically intertised and intertwined  with the British orientalism as well as  pre-Portuguese  Goan culture.[32] There has been to and fro intermingling of these orientalisms and hence one must agree that  Goans are doubly orientalized. There  is a symbiotic relations between the orientalized India and the lusophhonized Goa. They seem to overlap and penetrate each other.   That is why Goans occupy   a special status among the orientalized orientals. Hence, Goa has been always and still remains  other India.

It is not easy to articulate the complexity of the dynamic mobility and migration of these two orientalisms. The evolution of caste and Hinduism might demonstrate this dynamism. How they evolve travel and re-inscribe both in Goa and the rest of India that united into a country under the British orientalism has to be studied with attention.   It is difficult to place an Archimedean point or a firm ground for the  exchange of these orientalisms. Yet there is certainly a complex interweaving of  the different threads and fibers of these two orientalisms , though one might not find a perfect transfusion between the two.

Among the ideas in motion caste , Hinduism, nationalism  have evolved as result of inter-relations of the two orientalisms. Nicholas B. Dirks demonstrates that Caste as we know it today is the product of British colonization. Indeed caste is not something that survived unchanged from ancient times into our country. It is under the British that ‘caste’ become a single term capable of expressing , organizing, and above all ‘systematizing’ India’s diverse forms of social identity, community and organization.[33]  Caste organization certainly became a cultural technology that served British colonization of India.  This means caste system of today is a product of British orientalism. But the Portuguese are credited to the use of the term casta to refer to the social stratification they encountered in the 16^th century when they colonized the then pockets of our country.  It has been argued that Portuguese had a rather broader idea of the social order  they conceptualized as casta. Dirks reports of  a travel narrative of 16^th century  Portuguese  Duarte Barbosa who speaks of the threefold caste hierarchy of the Kshatriyas, Brahmins, and the Sudras with the ksatriyas on top of the hierarchy.[34] This narrative seem to have credibility as legend of Parashurama[35] is based on the defeat of the  Kshatriyas.[36] Even D. D Kosambe seem to merge caste into loosely viewed class in its origin. This perhaps explains why  only three castes have survived among the Catholics in Goa even against the spirit of Christianity till today. Some opine that the Vaishya  got merged with Kshatriyas  among the Christians.[37] This view is contested by  Pissurlenkar who  the Chardos originated from the converted Marathas. [38]  The work of Fr. Ignazio   Arcamone’s ,  De Sastana  Peninsula, a commentary on the Peninsula of Salcete written  in 1664 describes the caste geography of Salcete  The vocabularies that were developed in the College of Salcete  also give us an  information of caste system in Salcete. Caste is certainly one body politics, that racism, refuses to die.

Scholars of repute like Rumilla Thapar demonstrate that the evolution of monolithic Hinduism reached its high point in the 19^th century.[39]  Hence, Hinduism as we know it today is also a child of colonization. I have argued else where that  it is  an epistemological error to reduce the pre-Hindu religions, cults or sects like Shaivism,[40] Vashnavism[41], Saktism[42] and cults like Nathism[43], Betal  or Vetal,[44] Malikarjun[45], Sateri[46] etc  under a Hinduism which  unified them in the 19^th century.  Such a reductionism and ahistorical approach is a hindu-ology.  We can also say the same thing about the nationalism that developed in 20^th century in our country. It constructed the view of our glorious past not as a logical fulfillment but in an evocative sense to build a sense of we-feeling among our countrymen.

Challenges and Opportunities to the Church in Goa

The other orientalism that we have studied opens   a new window on our country. It can help us understand our society particularly in Goa. We have show how a clash of orientalisms has become an inevitable part of our society in Goa. While we seek a response to our realities it is important to discern these various orientalisms that are operating and come to understand the challenges they pose and opportunities they offer.

Challenge to Take Charge of our History

The history of Goa and the history of Goan Christianity is not free from orientalism. The colonial historiography with its Goa Dourada Paradigm tends to convert the  pre-Portuguese Goa into a tabula rasa. The reactionary historiography that took shape in the Post-colonial times with its paradigm Goa Indica, strives to present pre-Portuguese Goa as Konkan Kashi, the holy land of the Hindus. Such a historiography views colonization and subsequent   conversion only from the narrow religious point of view.  Thus, in  painting of the Pre-Portuguese Goa as Hindu, there is a direct attempt to turn the historical facts about conversion against the Church and the Christians of Today. This political motive of appropriating Goan history is highly reductionist and distortionist in its approach. I have described these attempts as Hindu-ology . in fact even the Word Hindu  does not exist in the entire  sixteenth century  indo-Portuguese  historiography.[47]

That is why the Christian in Goa have  the imperative to lay their claim on their own History. It important to assert that we have not come from Hinduism of today but the then fragmented cults that today have been steadily assimilated into Hinduism of today. The temples that were destroyed were not the Hindu temples but of this smaller, different and independent cults and religions which were often at war with each other.[48]  Prior to the 15^th century , there was no conflict between the Vaishnavaites and the Shaivites in Goa. But with the conversion of some of the Vaishnavites  to the Dvaita Philosophy of Madhvachrya the Saraswat community in Goa got divided into Vaishnavites (Madhavas) and Shaivites Smartas.[49]   In the absence of this critical discourse about the different pre-hindu cults, the gap is filled by the reductionist, hinduo-ology.

Challenge to Respond to the De-historicized condition of Theology in our Country

There is a forgetting of history in our theologizing in India.  There seems to be a discomfort to deal with the colonial past that we have inherited. The colonial experience is conveniently bracketed by our Indian theologians.[50] But this theological vacuum is speaking loudly and perhaps has become a major hurdle to dialogue with the majority of countrymen. Hence, it is important to bring about a response of faith to our colonial experience. Felix Wilfred sees the distancing of the Indian theologians from the colonial past is a way of delegitimizing it. He sees colonialism as an estrangement of West from the spirit of Christianity and asserts that colonialism cannot be reconciled with compassion and humanism of Christianity.[51] But the colonial cloud cannot be allowed to disfigure the face of Christ. In this noble task, we in Goa have a great opportunity as we are uniquely positioned to theologize   in the context of our colonial experience.

We have a theology of inculturation. But we seem to forget our history. A society that forgets its history is condemned to repeat its mistakes as well as become victim of the political exploitation of history. In this task, we in Goa can generate an uniquely creative theological response to the colonial experience that would illumine our country as well as the entire Asian continent.  In this context, Rachol Seminary has a special Imperative to work to occupy the theological vacuum created by our de-historicized theology.   This theological imperative can be viewed within the call for new evangelization given  by the universal church.  We have presented Jesus as  a teacher, healer and social worker though the power of our institutions. We can already notice the collapse of our institutional power as we find better and efficient competitors for our schools, hospitals and charity centers. Hence, a fresh theological energy might ignite new ways of evangelizing ourselves and our society.

Therapeutic Dialogue with the Hindu Community in Goa    

The exchange of orientalisms that we have discerned in this study is a sign of a wounded society. The Hindu community of today is still haunted by the loss of brotherhood due to conversion under  colonization. Conversion is not merely and exchange of Gods  but an interrogation of the tradition that one exchanges for another. Hence, trauma of loss of brotherhood is being re-enacted in  Goan  society. One community seems to have forgotten while the second remembers the pain of separation. Yet the second community forgets that it is not ahistorical and has changed and evolved over period of time. Indeed it is paradoxical that both the communities in Goa exhibit  an amnesia that  affects both of them. This gap afflicts  the Goan Society and is  primarily responsible   for the politics of identity that has been played on the soil of Goa  for the past fifty years.

The claims about forced conversions, demolishing of the Hindu temples abound in the narratives of  the post-colonial historiography mainly authored by the Hindu historians in our days. Though the temples that were demolished were not Hindu but one that belonged to different cults that have united into Hinduism of today  the Hindu community is certainly carrying the pain of this false impression. Similarly, the pain of conversion and separation is  real though the  conversions  took place from the fragments of the religious cults of 16^th and 17^th century. The Christians too having forgotten their own origins are wounded and continue to be victims of the aggression of their Hindu counterparts.  Hence, there is an inevitable  need of dialogue that can heal wounded  memories in our Society.

Challenge to Theologize on the Shores of Colva and Calangute

Goa is certainly other India. Its unique cultural otherness and natural beauty has become  a major tourist attraction after liberation.  Being insulated from the rest of the mainland for four hundred and fifty year  it seems to have fired  the imagination of our fellow Indians as an unspoiled virgin . It is almost seen as place outside time and has  become a hot spot for international tourists. The need to develop tourism infrastructure has become the boon for the real estate barons and five star hoteliers. All this developments have disrupted traditional Goan Culture which seems to survive in a commodified avtara. Besides it has led to the alienation of land from the traditional owners as a result of high inflation. The drug trade, the flesh trade, casino gambling, HIV infection, Child, Abuse and Alcohol abuse is already exposing the  dark side of tourism in Goa. The enclave tourism that is showing its ugly face in Goa is de-goanizing Goa.  The fact that some of our Goan beaches today are known by Russian names is enough to drive home  the de-goanizing  dimension of the kind of tourism that we are promoting.

Therefore, the Church in Goa has a profound  imperative to respond in faith to phenomenon of tourism in Goa.  We can already see some steps initiated in this direction. The founding of the Center for responsible tourism, the consultation for the development Curriculum of theology of tourism are important steps in this direction. Ecumenical Coalition for the Third World Tourism (ECOT) and some Protestant groups like Serampore College in West Bengal are already making great effort to develop a theology of tourism.  The Great Rachol Seminary cannot remain behind in this effort.[52] Theological as well as pastoral formation of our seminarian to meet the challenges of the pastoral care of tourism is both urgent and inevitable.

Challenge to Theologizing on the Mining Dumps of Sanguem and Bicholim

The first reference to the presence  of  mineral content in Goan soil dates back to the 16^th century.  It is reported that a Dutch traveler,  John H. V. Linschoten has written that in Goa there are stones containing iron. He also opines that scientists had indicated that gold and copper might be also found in those stones.[53]   Fonseca in his book, Historical and Archeological Sketch of Goa, in 1878 notes that Iron in Bage, Sattari, Pernem and in the province of Zamboulim.  He also clarifies that since no adequate scientific  exploration is not done the above is not a total representation of the entire mineral picture of Goa. [54]   The prospecting of iron and manganese and manganese ore as early as 1905, though regular iron ore export begun 1947 and reached its momentum in 1949. In 1905, few French and German companies had carried out iron and manganese ore prospecting in Goa. But the outbreak of the first world  war mining activity simply came to a halt only to begin in  1947. The 23 mining leases given by the Portuguese Government were continued by free India. [55]  The concessions given by the Portuguese were converted into mining leases by the parliament of India in 1987. [56]

Today mining is mostly concentrated  in three talukas, namely Bicholim, Quepem and Sanguem.  The Center for Science and Environment says that about 400 mining leases were granted in Goa till 2002-2003 covering 10.5 % of the total geographical area of Goa.[57]  The excessive mining activities that led to the faulting of all  regulating green laws led to the depletion of the forest cover and displaced wildlife.  Selaulim and Bicholim rivers  have become polluted and are choked with silt of mining rejects. Rivers Mondovi and Zuari are said to be contaminated with arsenic.[58] Mining has steadily made inroads into eco-sensitive zones like Goa’s wild life sanctuaries. [59] The Shah Commission appointed by the central Government exposed the illegal mining in Goa leading to the BJP Government imposing a ban on mining which was upheld by the Supreme Court at the behest of an NGO, Goa Foundation. This has brought a great debate on mining as many mining dependent people took to the streets. Within these complexities the Church has the responsibility to bring the light of faith in context of mining in Goa.[60]

Reaching out to the Goan Diaspora  

Until 1961 Goans migrating  to any part of India  had to cross international boundaries . Migration from Goa has a long history and is documented at least from the 16^th century on words.[61] Thus, we have the Catholics Goans migrating into Magalore  from the  16^th century on words . There was and there is  both in migration as well as out migration from Goa.  The Hindus have also  migrated out of Goa but their scale and pattern  was  different  from the catholic migration. The Portuguese Estado  da India was originally conceived as stretching  to Cape Of Good Hope in Africa to far East. But in the course of the four centuries due the competition with other European powers, the Estado progressively shrunk. These and other reasons, particularly because of lack of agricultural and industrial development in Goa, led to the economic deterioration of Goa and simultaneously there came up external job opportunities outside Goa.  In the absence of   indigenous people familiar with the western concepts of administration Goans were  preferred in many colonies in Africa. But most of the migrants from Goa as well as other parts of India were unskilled labourers recruited during the building of Railway.  In the same way the development of international shipping opened possibilities of many Goan opting to become seamen. Today we have a sizeable Goan Diaspora across the Globe.

The continuous migration of the Catholics through Portuguese citizenship is another factor along with the family planning that has led to the downsizing of the catholic population in Goa. Though the pattern of migration is highly  complex  even in our days yet it requires to be studied[62] and pastoral strategies need to be devised to deal with the same. Today this migratory movement has produced a global Catholic Goan Diaspora. The large catholic migrant community certainly offers new challenges as well as opportunities for the church to reach out in pastoral care to Goan Catholic Diaspora.

 Conclusion

Our study has shown how the lusoptopical orientalism opens another widow on India as well as Goa.  We have come to realize that Goa exhibits a kind of exchange of orientalisms in our post-colonial times. This is perhaps the  cause by amnesia afflicting both the Christians and the Hindus  in Goa. The Christians have no memory of their conversion, while the Hindus have also forgotten that they have evolved and changed as we march into the 21^st century. Hence, there is an urgent imperative to generate a therapeutic dialogue  that can respond to the wounded memories that disturbs our society in Goa. More over the otherness of Goa along with its natural beauty that is  being exploited to promote mass tourism needs a theological response. The Church in Goa has this great opportunity develop a theology that would generate effective pastoral care of the people of God affected and afflicted by mass tourism and mechanized mining.  The migration and the growing presence of a large international Catholic Goan community offers profound opportunity to devise new ways of reaching out to them as well as get them to help the church projects at home.