The Anglo Indian Community In Odisha Tales And Memories

Abstract

This study explores the Anglo-Indian community in Odisha within the larger discourse of newlinemixed-race identities, situating their history, cultural practices, and present challenges in the newlinecontext of colonial legacies and contemporary social change. Colonialism produced hybrid newlinepopulations across the globe, and Anglo-Indians in India exemplify the complex intersections newlineof race, culture, and belonging. While scholarship has traditionally focused on Anglo-Indians newlinein metropolitan centres such as Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, the unique experiences of newlinethose in smaller regions like Odisha remain underrepresented. This research seeks to address newlinethat gap by documenting their lived experiences, identity formations, and narratives of newlinebelonging, while highlighting the gradual erosion of cultural practices, demographic decline, newlineand political invisibility. newlineThe opening chapter situates Anglo-Indians historically and constitutionally, noting their newlinedistinct recognition under Article 366(2) of the Indian Constitution, which defines them newlinethrough paternal European descent and Indian nativity. In Odisha, once home to nearly four newlinehundred Anglo-Indian families, only a small remnant remains today, concentrated in cities newlinesuch as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Brahmapur, Jharsuguda, and Khurda Road. Despite their newlinecontributions to Indian society, Anglo-Indians in Odisha have never enjoyed political newlinerepresentation or minority commission inclusion, and the loss of constitutional nominations newlinethrough the 104th Amendment of 2020 has deepened their marginalization. The community newlinenow faces intermarriage, cultural erosion, and economic hardship, underscoring the urgency newlineof preserving their voices and memories. newlineThe second chapter explores the origins and naming of the community, tracing intermarriage newlinestrategies initiated by the Portuguese on the Malabar Coast in the late fifteenth century and newlineexpanded through other European settlements. This gave rise to hybrid communities such as newlinethe Luso-Indians, whose Catholic traditions and Portuguese surnames reflected b