Paper short abstract:

Being part of a collective research, the present paper approaches the newspaper A Província in its Indian phase.

Paper long abstract:

The present paper is part of a collective research viewing a comparative approach of Portuguese colonial press. Focusing the thematic of democratic thought, in its political and cultural dimensions, we use as case study the Portuguese journalist, Francisco Pereira Batalha. The spaces of his public intervention are directly linked with his career as a civil servant in Lisbon, Luanda and Pangim.

The A Província is one of the rare titles in the Portuguese colonial space that travels with its founder and director. His wish of intervening in local society is obvious since the first moment, when he chose as editor and secretary of the newspaper a journalist of the Hindu elite, Ladobá Ananta Sivescar. Later this journalist would stay only as editor as he launched his own project, Estado da Índia (1923-1931). In Goa, we notice three strong lines of intervention of Pereira Batalha: the defense of local autonomy and of democratic principles; the defense of European civil servants against the attacks of the native elites; involvement in local affairs, namely those surrounding communal relations and the pro-Indian nationalist movement. It is particularly interesting how his defense of equal rights coexists with his Orientalist and racist bias. On the other hand, the newspaper had a growing participation of native Republican intellectuals, both Catholics and Hindus that through different political and cultural polemics reflected on local democratic and identity problems.