After 451 years of Portuguese colonialism, Goa is now one of the most visited locations in South Asia, with fifteen million tourists each year. This onslaught of visitors has threatened the territory’s coastal ecology while also increasing noise pollution.

In light of these challenges, writer Doctor R. Benedito Ferrão and artists Angela Ferrão and Maria Vanessa de Sa conceived The Uninvited Host: Goa and the Parties not Meant for its People (2023), a research-based comic/zine that could help to collate, explain, and represent geographic-specific issues.

In this presentation, Doctor Ferrão interrogates how Goa became the tourist destination it is today, proposing comic books as an appropriate literary form for understanding regional issues. He explores the zine's role and gauges what the future holds for a place whose identity has become synonymous with party-tourism, even as Goans have expressed concern about their marginalisation in their own homeland. Amidst this, the talk will also underscore the role of art as a chronicle and mode of local resistance.

How to attend

This will be a hybrid event and is open to all. Please only request a ticket using the registration link on the right-hand side if you would like to attend in-person.

If you would like to join virtually please contact DLLC@kcl.ac.uk for the link.