ONLINE: From Goa to Chaul. Rethinking Portuguese Architecture on the Konkan Coast (Prapti Panda)

[Frederick Noronha]

Goa has long been the center of conversations about Portuguese colonial architecture in India. But what happens when we look beyond it - toward smaller yet strategically important settlements like Chaul in coastal Maharashtra? This talk explores how architecture - both monumental and domestic - shaped everyday life in Chaul during Portuguese rule (1510-1740). Bastions and churches may have dominated the landscape, but it was through houses, markets, gardens and streets that people lived, worked, and navigated colonial expansion. Drawing on archaeological and archival research, the talk moves between exploring the monumental and the everyday to ask what buildings can tell us about social life in a colonial port town.

Prapti Panda is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at Northwestern University, Chicago. Her research focuses on colonial urbanism, heritage politics and landscape histories in coastal western India during the early modern period. Trained as a historical archaeologist, her work bridges anthropology, archaeology and art history.

Date: 20th September, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM IST
Online via zoom
 
Register via https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3l-M_h373baknnFNQ3WY21BO4EexmVpHpE-RJk0cch7jytg/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102139304395515547553