University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2015-09-29 Where Are We From? Where Are We Goan? The Religio-Cultural Identity of Diasporic Goans Gonsalves, Roselle Gonsalves, R. (2015). Where Are We From? Where Are We Goan? The Religio-Cultural Identity of Diasporic Goans (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28697 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2551 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Where Are We From? Where Are We Goan? The Religio-Cultural Identity of Diasporic Goans by Roselle Marie Gonsalves A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2015 © Roselle Marie Gonsalves 2015 ii ABSTRACT Identity as a product of religion, culture, history, and place is the central focus of this dissertation. The Goan Catholic communities in Mumbai and Toronto, who are at the heart of this project, are each migrant communities that, though many generations removed from their ‘homeland’ of Goa, continue to maintain and strengthen their identities as “Goans” through innovative practices. This project focuses on the processes of identity construction as undertaken by members of the Goan communities of Mumbai and Toronto. By taking into account the unique historical narrative of the Goans, and the spatial contexts that shape the way these two Goan communities create meaningful places, this ethnographic project enquires into the religio-cultural identities of these communities. In order to fully engage with the communities as they exist “on the ground,” this ethnographic project involved two significant periods of fieldwork: in Mumbai, India and in Toronto, Canada. By engaging with these communities in such an intimate way, this project offers insight into the particular ways in which the Goans of Mumbai and Toronto maintain their self-identity, their religious practices, their cultural performances, and their ties to the ur-place of Goa. By examining the pathways of connection that sustain these sites of identity maintenance, this project highlights the bridge building that the Goan communities undertake: between the “here” of their current location and the “there” of Goa; and between the “now” of their reality and the “then” of their cultural memory. Though bi-locational, the comparative aspect of this project is not a comparison of Goans living in Mumbai versus the Goans living in Toronto. Rather, drawing on the tradition of Jonathan Z. Smith, the comparison is one that traces the practices of these iii two communities, side by side, thus providing a side-by-side exploration of each one.1 In this way, this project is committed to examining how each community maintains their unique historical narrative in spatially-unique ways, adapting their practices in pursuit of the similar goal: maintaining their Goan religio-cultural identities. 1 Jonathan Z. Smith, "Adde Parvum Parvo Magnus Acervus Erit," History of Religions. 11, no. 1 (1971). iv PREFACE In October 2010, having just weeks prior moved to Calgary to begin doctoral work, I found myself disillusioned and unmotivated by my research project, which at the time focused on American Evangelicals and coming-of-age rituals. Over a cup of tea with a classmate, I lamented the lack of academic love I felt for my project, wondering out loud how I would see the proposed project through four-to-five more years, with increasingly rigorous engagement, if I were already feeling unenthusiastic about it. My classmate listened to my complaints, and then asked me if there were one project that I could do, what would it be? I thought back to the Fall of 2008: I had just started my Master’s at the University of Toronto, when Dr. Reid Locklin invited me to attend a colloquium hosted by UofT’s St. Michael’s College, featuring Rev. Dr. Paul M. Collins and his newly published book Context, Culture and Worship: The Quest for ‘Indian-ness’. In discussing Indian Christianity and the concepts of enculturation, I found myself, for the very first time, truly excited by an academic conversation. Having been born into an Indian Catholic family, it had never occurred to me that Indian Christianity would be a valuable area of academic inquiry. To me, it just was. Yet, the weekend colloquium had unleashed in me a deep well of questions regarding identity and culture and history and narrative. So, in 2010, faced with my classmate’s thought-provoking question, I recalled the colloquium that I had attended two years prior, and how the subject matter had fired me up. I was impassioned and dynamic in my description of the hypothetical research I would do. I surprised both of us with my zeal and excitement at the idea of the project. However, I lamented, I would never be able to do a project on Indian Christianity, v because a) I had already been accepted into the doctoral program based on another research proposal, and b) it was academically irresponsible to study one’s ‘own’ people. My classmate responded that if I approached the Department with the same presentation I had just given, with the same degree of excitement and zest, they would not be able to turn me down. I stayed awake that whole night, drafting up a research proposal, fully expecting it to be rejected, and hoping fervently that it would not also result in me being kicked out the doctoral program altogether! What followed the next morning would change the course of my entire doctorate: my supervisor and the department head each approved my newly drafted research proposal, which detailed a three year long, multi-sited, ethnographic inquiry into the religio-cultural identities of Goan Catholics. The fruit of the following few years of labour are in the pages of this dissertation. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” - Sir Isaac Newton A number of individuals and groups are owed an immense debt of gratitude for guiding, shaping, and informing this project. My humble thanks to them here is but a symbol of the gratefulness I feel for their support. Thank you, first and foremost, to the Goan communities in Mumbai and Toronto, who welcomed me so warmly, and in true Goan fashion. I am truly fortunate to have spent quality time in both cities, learning from my interlocutors—your voices have enriched my project in ways unimaginable. In Toronto, special thanks go to the Toronto chapter of the Goan Oversees Association (G.O.A.) for warmly making me a part of their community events, and to Mr. John D’Souza of The Goan Voice for providing this endeavor with rich archival and anecdotal materials. In Mumbai, my heartfelt gratitude to the DeSouza, Menezes, Desai, and Freitas families for making my time in India so special, for going above and beyond the role of interlocutors, and for taking me in as part of their families. The kindness, grace, and generosity that I received during my fieldwork in both cities, has sustained me in the writing of this work. This academic project was generously supported by a number of sources at the University of Calgary, including generous travel funding from the Department of Religious Studies, the Graduate Student Association, the Faculty of Graduate Studies, the Audrey Cuthbertson Foundation, and the Saint Lazarus Bursary program. As well, I am grateful for the generosity of the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion (CCSR) for their significant support of the international arm of this project. vii I am so thankful for the academic support that this undertaking has received, both within the University of Calgary and beyond. My doktormutter, Dr. Anne Moore, has been my most powerful ally in the development of this project. When I approached her early in my first year as a doctoral student, wanting to change my research focus from American Evangelism to Indian Catholicism, Dr. Moore supported me fervently. Over the years, I have had no doubt that this incredible and dynamic scholar has always been on “my side,” and I have no words to truly capture the depth of gratitude that I feel for her exemplary supervision and guidance. An astute scholar, Dr. Moore infused each of our meetings with vitality and an opportunity for me to learn and grow, posing questions that challenged me to go deeper in my own work. She has read every word on every page of this dissertation, thrice over, and with grace and panache has enriched this project in very many significant ways. I am eternally grateful for Dr. Moore’s unwavering support, her scholarly engagement, and her invaluable friendship. To deserve such mentorship, such wisdom, such friendship, in the words of Fräulein Maria, “somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” Many thanks also to the members of my dissertation committee: Dr. Elizabeth Rohlman, who has been with this project since its inception. I am so thankful for her voice and wisdom that steadied me through the entirety of this doctoral undertaking. Our shared love of India filled many an hour with conversation, and I have learned so much from Dr. Rohlman’s ability to weave narrative and theory so seamlessly.