Is the State doing enough to give Goans living here adequate security to stay back and keep the Goan identity alive, or do the large numbers of Goans leaving for Europe tell a different story?
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Every year around the Christmas season, the Government of Goa spends lakhs of tax payers’ money to invite a contingent of Goan young diaspora under the Know Goa Program, to visit the State. The participants are given this unique opportunity so that they can share their views, experience and expectations in an attempt to get them to connect with their root. Are such attempts even realistic given the fact that every day thousands of applications are being reviewed for a Portuguese passport? Have we skipped a step somewhere, jumping ahead from trying to bring the youth back even before we have made any attempts to keep our youth from leaving.
Does a state have an influence over a person’s behavior and in reciprocity does the state get influenced with changes of their population profile? How does life change if one decides to immigrate? The incidents of Goans opting for a Portuguese passport is on a definite increase. A dream of prosperity luring thousands of Goans, to a better life in a first world country. Packing their bags if not for themselves at least for the sake of their children they tread this easy opportunity that is by default a birthright. A hope that their children will enjoy the benefits of living in a land of better opportunities they endure sacrifices of change.
Minus the paper work, the process of immigration process is in itself complicated for everybody. Those that are being left behind have a new narrative and those that move away have to deal with their own set of trials. For both change becomes inevitable - Change that brings in challenges of coping, of loss and separations and of creating new identities.
Our thinking, our feelings and our sense of self are in many ways associated to our perception within our own cultural environment. So when a person migrates their sense of who they are, their identity, also migrates with them. With so many Goans opting for a Portuguese passport what happens to this identity?
A very sensitive and touchy topic I have begun to understand especially since there is so much about the insider- outsider debate. But truly is Goan a geographical identity or is it a personality born out of the trajectories of cultural values and residency? How does one describe a Goan? A difficult task because the traits of a Goan are subtle yet very identifiable. We are a naïve lot because we are open to others to the extent that our tolerance becomes the bane of our intolerance. We are inclusive and dependent on each other beyond class, caste and religion, because our residency is embedded in a community system (gaunkari/ coumminidade) that is over a thousand years old. We are confident because we have land laws that give us an identity that is different frorm not only the rest of India but across many parts of the world.
Even being born a women in Goa has a complete different connotation then being born a women anywhere else in the country. The uniform civil code that we practice in Goa allows women to inherit their family property, this in turn influences her sense of self concept. Gender equality is a powerful identification, one that cannot be easily acquired. Thus, being Goan is more than what we eat, drink or dress. It is a mindset cultivated through thousands of years of evolving systems. By giving this up are we in essence risking this cultural identity?
Amongst the many struggles that people face when they migrate is their attachment to such cultural contexts that often serve as a catalyst for the development of a variety of psychological problems. While first generation immigrants seek to maintain strong identification with the values of their culture of origin, their struggles in trying to settle down in their new country of residence becomes even greater. A process we refer to as acculturation. Within this process there are dominant societies that expect submissive societies to change.
It is a multidimensional process and involves many changes at many levels. It normally begins with language and basic communication skills. The more complex and difficult adjustments have to do with attitudes and value conflicts. Moreover, parents and children acculturate in different ways and at different rates. It is far easier for younger children to cope with the changes than it is for older people. Value clashes between immigrant parents and their children surface as these parents often understand little of their children’s lives outside the home. For immigrant children, it can be difficult to live with the expectations and demands of one culture in the home and another at school.
Establishing economically, feeling pride in one’s own ethnicity and learning new cultural norms are the many struggles that immigrants face. Given this reality, why are so many Goan’s leaving? Is it the dependability of proper systems, security that a states exude, dignity of labor, economic gains that lure people to migrate even though they know that they are uprooting themselves? What security does our state contribute to keep Goan from migrating?
The frustration of the people come in small doses of disobedience and protest and wanting to flee the country for better prospects.
Dr Aldina Braganza e Gomes is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and associate professor, HOD, Dept of Psychology Carmel College
