thesis research
Goa, the smallest state of India, was a Portuguese colony from 1510 until its liberation on December 19th, 1961. Following 451 years of Portuguese rule, a generation in the state still lived under colonialism. Drawing on their memories, the thesis “L(ea)iving the Past: Nostalgia, Space and Writing as Remembering Practices among Goan Catholics” analyses the impact and manifestations of remembering the past in contemporary Goa, addressing the question: To what extent do memories of Portuguese colonialism influence the everyday practices of Goan Catholics? I argue that recalling the past influences these practices, serving as a mechanism to navigate the uncertainties of life in a rapidly transforming Goa, a place they fear may soon disappear. In order to explore this question, I divided the research into three main sections: first, I look at how my participants remember the Portuguese colonial time to explore their manifestations of nostalgia; second, I delve into the space of Mr Baker, a coffee shop where they spend a considerable amount of time on a daily basis, to analyse how it emerges as a lieu de mémoire; and finally, I focus on the act of writing a memoir as an anticipatory future-oriented practice.
On the website, readers will find a summary of my thesis, organised according to the subsections of each of the five chapters and accompanied by visual elements that, in my view, complement and enrich the written text. In addition, I have included the ethnographic vignettes exactly as they appear in the thesis. These serve not only to provide contextualisation but also, I hope, to offer a more engaging and evocative reading experience, as they function almost as literary pieces, capable of portraying vivid impressions from the field. At the end of each chapter page, readers will also find the references to the main works consulted.
The chapter pages are linked below