Diaspora, nationality, and the Goan catholics in England

Abstract

This paper discusses how Goan Catholics in England retain the cultural nationality of their home country while at the same time, having European citizenship. People from the former Portuguese colony in India can exercise the option of becoming citizens of Portugal subject to certain conditions. This facility of retaining Portuguese citizenship is an outcome of Portuguese colonialism in Goa. The Portuguese colonial policy of lusitaniation and religious conversion had a consequence on the migratory patterns of Goans. Being more at home in a Westernised culture, it was mostly the Goan Catholics who migrated abroad. This trend has continued in post colonial Goa. There have been hundreds and thousands of Goan Catholics, who, after acquiring Portuguese citizenship, have settled in various European countries, preferably England. Though they possess Portuguese citizenship, culturally they retain their Indian nationality, their Goan identity. This paper focuses on one aspects of Goan culture that the Goan Catholics have retained in the diaspora- Music.