Paper short abstract:

Drawing from the experience of Portuguese-India this paper suggests contemplating the location of the subaltern, not in a definite subject-position vis-à-vis definite elite, but rather in a chain of subalternities.

Paper long abstract:

The general tendency with regard to locating the subaltern is to locate this subject position vis-à-vis the elites. Such a methodology may work when one locates the subalterns and elites within a definite, and assumedly closed-off, society. This idea of a definite and bounded 'society' however is not without challenge, and taking this challenge as a starting point would allow us to perhaps modify our understanding of the subaltern and subalternity.

This paper will look into the web of representations and relations that marked the Estado da India Portuguesa and the manner in which it produced the subaltern. The subaltern, this paper will argue, is not simply a matter of locating the non-elite within the boundaries of the former Estado da India Portuguesa, but of locating this search within a larger framework of international and intra-national web of representations and relations.

From within the territory of the Estado da India Portuguesa, this paper will look at the specific case of Goa, and argue for understanding and locating the subaltern through the framework of a 'chain of subalternities'. This investigation will take into consideration the continuing peculiarities of the capital of the Estado da India, both in colonial times, as well as in the post colonial, subsequent to the integration of Goa into the national politics of the Indian Union.