Chapter 4 “Orientalism from Within” in Goa: Local Textual Production in Light of the Legal and Administrative Framework of the Overseas Populations
In: Eastern and Western Synergies and Imaginations
Author:
Everton V. Machado
Everton V. Machado
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Abstract
Much of what has been produced about Goa – where the Portuguese remained for four and a half centuries as an imperial presence – confirms a connection between knowledge and power. This essay attempts to demonstrate it through what is being called “Orientalism from within”, supported by the reading of some texts written in the 19th and 20th centuries by Goans who had a Portuguese cultural and religious education. By confronting them with the legislation for the territories conquered by Portugal, the connection between knowledge and power in the Portuguese Empire becomes evident in a clear attempt to restructure a dominated society.