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Abstract
Throughout 2011, events celebrating, debating and criticizing the 50 years of Goa's existence within the Indian Union took place across Goa. These debates oscillated between the poles of perceiving what happened on the 19 December 1961 as either ‘liberation’ or ‘occupation’, reflecting the broad spectrum of perspectives at the time. Missing from these discussions were the views of Goans beyond Goa, across the Indian Ocean in East Africa and further afield. Even when divided by the Indian Ocean from life in Goa, they retained an interest in their country of origin. This paper uses archival and oral history sources to contextualize and understand East African Goans' responses, to address this gap in the literature, to problematize some existing accounts of the events and to draw attention to the significance of transimperial connections across the Indian Ocean. I argue that the lack of active involvement in political developments by the majority of Goans – whether they were in Goa or in East Africa – was intimately linked to the anxiety many of them felt about what the creation of nation-states in both the Indian subcontinent and East Africa would mean in practical terms for individuals' lives ‘on the ground’.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful for comments on an earlier version of this paper by participants of the ‘Goa 1961’ conference, which took place at the University of Goa in December 2011. The Centre for Global History at the University of Oxford provided a congenial intellectual atmosphere in which to revise this paper. Thanks to the members of staff at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the Public Record Office, London, and the Kenya National Archives, Nairobi. Most importantly, though, I thank all those who so generously shared their stories and experiences with me.
Notes
1. Note on interviews: Between 2003 and 2012, I conducted 220 interviews in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Goa, Canada, Germany and the UK with South Asians, mainly Goans, who lived or still live in East Africa. To protect individuals' privacy, all interviewees are referred to with a pseudonym. The location mentioned is the location in which the interview took place; this does not necessarily reflect where they live.
2. Almost all of the Goans migrating to East Africa were Roman-Catholic and usually held, at least until the mid-twentieth century, Portuguese passports. See the passaportes series in the Goa National Archives.
3. For the years 1911–1948/1957, Goans were listed as a separate category in the census returns. However, Goans were subsumed under other categories such as ‘Christians’, ‘Asians’, or ‘Portuguese’ in the censuses from the 1950s on, which makes it difficult to obtain accurate numbers of Goans living in East Africa since. Census of Kenya, Census of Tanganyika, Census of Uganda, and Census of Zanzibar for the years 1910, 1911, 1913, 1921, 1928, 1931, 1928, 1948.
4. See, for instance, interview with Robert, UK, 2004: ‘I am a civil servant – I have got nothing to do with politics’.
5. For different accounts of the EAINC, see Aiyar (Citation2011) and Frenz (Citation2013a, Citation2013b), and for documentary evidence, see KNA (MAC/EAI/28/1).
6. Sarojini Naidu presided over the Fifth Session of the EAINC held in Mombasa in 1924, KNA (MAC/EAI/28/1). She was invited again to be President of the Ninth Session of the EAINC held in Nairobi in 1930.
7. Nazareth was also a member and vice-president, later president, of the Law Society of Kenya (1953–1954); elected member of Kenya Legislative Council for the Western Electoral Area 1956–1960; and president of the Gandhi Memorial Academy Society at the University of Nairobi. KNA (MAC/EAI/28/3); KNA (MAC/EAI/29/1); see also Vaz (Citation1997, 196–197).
8. J. M. Nazareth to Fenner Brockway, 10 January 1956, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
9. Constitution of the East Africa Goan National Association as adopted at Meeting on 23 September 1955, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
10. Address Nazareth to EAGNA, 23 October 1955, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10). Emphasis in original.
11. East Africa Goan National Association, Address by the President Mr. J. M. Nazareth, Q. C., delivered at Nairobi 11 on Sunday 23 October 1955 and Resolutions Passed, Nairobi, 1955, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
12. East Africa Goan National Association, Address by the President Mr. J. M. Nazareth, Q. C., delivered at Nairobi 11 on Sunday 23 October 1955 and Resolutions Passed, Nairobi, 1955, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
The question, however, of whether Goa can maintain an independent life is a practical one and ought to be practically approached. It may be that Goa, after a period of independence, might find it necessary or desirable freely to seek merger with India as happened to Newfoundland which sought incorporation with Canada. On the other hand it may find itself like Luxemburg [sic], a State about the size of Goa, able to maintain its independence for centuries.
13. East Africa Goan National Association, Address by the President Mr. J. M. Nazareth, Q. C., delivered at Nairobi 11 on Sunday 23 October 1955 and Resolutions Passed, Nairobi, 1955, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
14. J. M. Nazareth to The Registrar of Societies, 1 December 1955, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
15. J. M. Nazareth to Fenner Brockway, 10 January 1956, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
16. Registrar of Societies to EAGNA, 3 January 1956, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
17. J. M. Nazareth to Fenner Brockway, 10 January 1956, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10). The phrase ‘friends in the metropolis’ is borrowed from Boaventura de Sousa Santos; used in his presentation at the conference ‘Goa 1961 and Beyond’, University of Goa, December 2011.
18. J. M. Nazareth to Fitz de Souza, 11 January 1956, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
19. Address Nazareth to EAGNA, 23 October 1955, KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
20. Resolution passed unanimously at Conference of the East Africa Goan National Association held on 26 and 27 December 1955 in Nairobi (sent to the Registrar of Societies on 4 January 1956), KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
21. Resolution passed unanimously by the Standing Committee of the East Africa Goan National Association at its meeting held on 11 December 1955 (sent and signed for on 14 December 1955), KNA (MAC/EAI/29/10).
22. East African Standard, 24 October 1960.
23. See for instance, interview with Generosa, UK, 2005.
24. Interview with Robert, UK, 2004.
25. Colonial Times, 14 December 1961.
26. ‘The children of Portuguese subjects born in the Colony are deemed to be natural born British subjects.’ KNA (CS/2/1/108). It is very difficult to establish exact numbers; most reports are based on estimates. My interviewees also frequently remarked on this issue. For instance, Sebastian said:
My father came as a Portuguese citizen. I was born a Portuguese citizen but then because we were so many years there we could naturalise and become British subjects. My father thought it would be advisable for us to become British because of getting scholarships which we did and because of that I got a scholarship because I had a British passport. Interview with Sebastian, UK, 2004.
27. Interview with Robert, UK, 2004 and Letters by various Goans to the Portuguese Consul in the 1950s, KNA (CS/2/7/16; CS/2/9/37).