For centuries Goa was the administrative center of a Portuguese empire that extended west to Africa and east to Malaysia, China, and Japan. This volume adds add to our understanding of the arts, peoples, languages, and cultures that made Goa one of the first global entrepots, a focal point and center of diverse world cultures, situating it between cultures and thus anticipating today s global, multicultural and multilingual urban centres. At a conference entitled Goa: A Post-Colonial Society Between Cultures , planned by Kenneth David Jackson and held at Yale University, international scholars and creative artists gathered to debate and discuss the position of contemporary Goa in light of its historically diverse cultural influences. This volume is an anthology of presentations made at the conference as well as a collection of essays by scholars whose research interests and fields of specialization embrace similar areas of interdisciplinary inquiry. Edited by Rochelle Almeida, it represents a significant commentary on Goa today. Encompassing polylingual controversies, raging political debates, creative writing, the impact of modernist cinema as well as intellectual discourse on the lingering influences of four-and-half centuries of Portuguese colonial rule, these essays will serve scholars as much as they will more general readers who might seek informed opinion on Goa and its future.