Located at the intersection of the sociology of popular religion and the dynamics of social transformation, this book examines the processes of conversion, continuity and change in a Goan Catholic community. In doing so, the study analyzes the patterns of persistence and transformation that can be discerned in the socio-religious practices of present-day Catholics in relation to the wider Hindu society within which they are located and form which they emerged through conversion four centuries ago. Rowena Robinson begins by delineating the geographical space (the physical description of the fieldwork area along with the social and cultural settings and the academic spaces (the related historical, sociological and anthropological contexts) covered by the book. She then moves on to describing the socio-political context in which the erstwhile Portuguese rulers of Goa carried out mass conversions to Catholicism. The author examines which aspects of the socio-ritual life of the converting community were changed and which were retained, focusing on the issues of caste, kinship relations, and ideas about inheritance and gender. Chapters 4 and 5 of the book explore ritual life at the level of the individual and the community including life-cycle rituals and the annual calendrical rituals of the church. The last two chapters tell a tale of conflict and disharmony, of competition centred around rituals and of contests between groups for privileges and honours in the church. While noting the historical unity that binds Hindus and Catholics in Goa, the author cautions against the possible increase in communal propaganda. Overall, this book provides a rich analysis of the interplay between Christianity and colonialism as well as the emerging disharmony of tradition in a new social context. It will be essential reading for scholars, students and researchers in the fields of social anthropology, sociology, kinship and religious studies.
There are no reviews yet.