Negotiating Belonging: The Goan Diasporic Community Press Between East Africa and Bombay

Paper Abstract: This paper examines how the Goan diasporic press mediated notions of belonging across East Africa, Bombay, and Goa between 1940 and 1963. As new borders were drawn and emerging nation-states reshaped identities, the Goan community engaged in multi-layered processes of belonging. Rather than viewing Goa solely as a geographical home to return to, this study explores how the Goan press fostered transnational ties while negotiating anti-colonial nationalism in a non-European public sphere. Newspapers and journals published from Nairobi, Mombasa, Bombay, and Goa articulated positions that navigated the dominant Anglophone press as well as Portuguese, South Asian and African vernaculars, facilitating communication and contestation between South Asian and African communities. By examining public discourse, including the voices of activists, journalists, and other public commentators, this paper highlights the contentious loyalties and negotiations of belonging within the Goan diasporic community. The press allowed Goans to interact with and reflect upon their positions, revealing the tensions and solidarities within a changing world.