Dr. Tristão de Bragança Cunha, revered as the “Father of Goan Nationalism,” profoundly shaped the discourse on Goan identity through his 1944 essay, The Denationalisation of Goans. His thesis argued that Portuguese colonial rule, through its education system, press, and Church, alienated Goans—particularly the Catholic elite—from their Indian cultural roots, rendering them “strangers in their own land.” While Cunha’s...
