Wendell Rodricks’s fiction collection Poskem: Goans in the Shadows brings attention to a painful part of Goan social history, but Scroll reviewer Aditya Sudarshan argues that it does not fully examine the abuse at the center of its darkest story. That is a critical reading of the book, not a consensus verdict: the review also credits it with making exclusion and small-town secrecy visible.
What does “poskem” mean in Goa?
Poskem is a Konkani word for an adopted child; poskim is the plural. Accounts associated with the practice describe children from poorer families being taken into wealthier households. Some were given the household’s family name but did not receive equal standing. Wendell Rodricks said some were kept in domestic service, denied schooling or the chance to marry, and excluded from inheritance. These descriptions do not mean every child had the same experience: some were raised as full siblings.
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Historian Fatima Gracias cautioned in a 2017 feature that “The tradition of Poskem was not a widespread one.” That is a qualitative assessment, not a count. The available accounts do not establish a reliable prevalence figure or a definitive historical origin for the practice.
What is Rodricks’s book about?
Published by Om Books, Poskem: Goans in the Shadows is fiction told through four lives shaped by the tradition. The characters’ experiences differ: two are described as loved and accepted, while Alda faces discrimination and abuse before her story turns toward magical revenge. Sita’s story raises an incestuous relationship. Illustrations by Mario Miranda and recipes are woven into the narrative.
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That variety matters to how the book should be read. It does not present one uniform outcome as representative of every poskem’s life. Its use of fiction, magic realism, food, and illustration also makes it different from a documentary account based on testimony.
Why did Scroll’s reviewer say the book stops short?
Sudarshan’s criticism is that the book promises to enter the hidden psychology of the practice but does not sustain that inquiry. In his reading, the two stories of accepted children soften the focus, while Sita’s incestuous relationship is raised as a sign of a wider malaise and then left largely unexplored. Alda’s abuse, meanwhile, is redirected into a witch-like revenge fantasy rather than examined at length.
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The review also questions the role of the recipes and illustrations. It finds them charming, but argues that at points they fill space where the narrative’s analysis is thin. The objection, then, is not that the book ignores harm altogether; it is that its most troubling material receives less sustained attention than the subject demands.
What does the book still achieve?
The same review calls the book stimulating and sees force in its depiction of exclusion and the secrecy of a small community. Sudarshan summarizes its achievement as: “Poskem avoids being a disappointment.” He also interprets the book’s evasions as connected to the silence surrounding the practice, while arguing that healing would require bringing shame into the open. Those are the reviewer’s literary judgments, rather than settled conclusions about the book or the history.
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What did Rodricks say about his approach?
In an interview, Rodricks said that Rosa, a poskem neighbor he knew, prompted the book. He described the work as a tribute and an apology, saying, “I wanted to tell the story because this tradition must stop.” He also said that his accounts came from his mother, villagers, friends, and people in the diaspora. Crucially, he said he did not interview poskim for the book because he thought they might not want to discuss their lives and injustices.
That explanation helps clarify the book’s intention, but it is not a substitute for testimony from people who experienced the practice. In a separate interview, Rodricks said he included recipes because cooking connected the protagonists and because many poskim were excellent cooks. He also described the book as an apology for how they were treated: “The Poskim of Goa deserved the book ‘Poskem’ as an apology for the way we treated them.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to understand the book’s limits
Poskem: Goans in the Shadows is best approached as a work of fiction that draws attention to a hidden and painful subject, not as a comprehensive history or a collection of first-person accounts. Its contrasting character stories make visible the fact that experiences differed; the review’s central reservation is that the book’s most severe harms are gestured toward more than deeply examined. The available sources do not establish how common the practice was or provide a definitive account of its origins.
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