IberLAND’s post-doc researcher Roger Lee de Jesus participated in the workshop “Language Registers and Communication Strategies as Reflected in Premodern South Asian Inscriptions”, organized by BERSAS – Forum for Interdisciplinary South Asian Studies in Berlin, at the Institute for Asian and African Studies of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, on 29 November 2024 – the programme of the event is available here.
Roger Lee presented a joint talk with Annette Schmiedchen, from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and co-PI of the ERC Synergy project DHARMA, on “Interpreting and Adapting in Colonial Context: a 14th-Century Copper-Plate Charter from Goa and its 16th-Century Portuguese Translation.” It is part of a paper being developed by both researchers on a unique case which aims to analyze a 1391 copper plate that was translated and adapted into Portuguese by Goan brahmins in 1532. This case allows us to understand the practices and norms that existed before the Portuguese conquest of Goa and how the local population reacted to colonial administration and adapted their own institutions related to land ownership. The content of the copper plates, and how they were used, are essential elements for understanding this process of territorialization and how it was shaped by both sides of colonial society.
