Shifting borders: exploring Goan identity and migration

For R. Benedito Ferrão, identity isn’t defined by where you are, but by how you move through the world.  

As William & Mary’s first tenured Asian & Pacific Islander American studies (APIA) faculty member as well as an associate English professor, Ferrão researches South Asian migrants whose stories are often obscured by shifting borders and colonialism.  

For the 2026-2027 academic year, he is serving as the Thomas Tam Visiting Professor at City University of New York’s (CUNY) Asian American/Asian Research Institute, where he is teaching a seminar and course on transnational Asian American literature. In addition to his new appointment, Ferrão also recently published two books: “Across Continents: Writing Goans, Making Worlds” and “The Girl Who was the Color of Nothing: A Children’s Book for Adults.”  

Like those he studies, Ferrão is no stranger to traveling across borders. He received his undergraduate degree in English and master’s in Asian American studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. He combined these two fields when completing his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of London, where he concentrated in post-colonial literature and connections between British and Portuguese legacies in South Asia. He then completed a post-doc program at La Trobe University in Australia through the Endeavor Research program. As he was completing more research, he found his travels influencing his research discoveries.  

“For me, as somebody whose family and myself have moved quite a bit, it’s to never take fixity for granted, but then to also see that lack of fixity as being a condition of the world today,” Ferrão said. His family is from Goa, and Ferrão has lived in Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania and America. 

After his stint in Australia, Ferrão joined W&M. His courses include Interpreting Literature, Anglophone Postcolonial Literature, Outsiders in Transnational Asian American Literature, and Cinema of the South Asian Diaspora. Now teaching similar courses at CUNY, he hopes the insight he gains from his current students will inform his teaching upon his return to W&M next year.  

“I've been quite fortunate to have a number of fellowships that have taken me to other countries, and New York City is a country unto itself in many ways," he said. “Every time I've gone to another place, it has really influenced my research, writing and teaching. Teaching in a new setting gives me a little bit more freedom to experiment, see what works, and bring that back to William & Mary.” 

Ferrão returned to Williamsburg on Oct. 16 for the Banh Mi Lecture series. The event featured a reading of his new book, “The Girl Who was the Color of Nothing,” and a conversation moderated by Addie Tsai, associate teaching professor of English. The event was funded by the Jinlan Liu Foundation and sponsored by the Creative Writing and APIA programs.  

The new book is a departure from his largely academic body of work but addresses theoretical frameworks around race and colorism that he teaches in his courses. The book follows a high-class Goan Catholic family that goes to extreme lengths to ensure their daughter’s skin never darkens. Goa, a state in India located on the southwestern coast, was colonized by Portugal from 1510 to 1961. He said he wrote the book, which is illustrated by Goan artist Maria Vanessa de Sa, to help parents understand the modern implications of colonial legacies and internalized racism.  

“It's very strange when you see evidence of prejudice in somebody who is very young, which then demonstrates to us that it’s not something that they were born with. It's something they learn at a very young age from adults around them,” he said. “I'm always thinking of ways of bridging the academic world with the public and so a children's book became the perfect vehicle through which to think about how to challenge prejudice at its very genesis.” 

In addition to creating a space for reflection, he hopes to use his book to elevate and promote artists. He has produced zines and curated exhibits for Goan artists in the past, and de Sa also created the cover of his academic book, “Across Continents.” The book uses the Goan experience to question the idea that identity is fixed by nation or nationality and explores how narratives can slip through official records.  

“I'm always thinking of different ways to do research and then make that available creatively through these collaborations with artists,” Ferrão said. “I'm very interested in working with artists who have very strong ideas about the environment and feminism, and who think about coloniality and postcoloniality. There has to be some relationship between the things that I do and what they create.” 

As he continues the academic year in New York City, Ferrão says his next research project will continue to build upon his work with Goan artists by exploring visual culture across multiple continents through the lens of postcolonialism, providing context to current human experiences.   

“It’s interesting being a postcolonialism scholar in post-colonial Williamsburg," he said. “I want to diversify the study of postcolonialism by not just focusing on British colonialism, but by understanding how these colonialisms worked in partnership with one another. Their legacies continue to have a large impact on communities today.”