Favita Rochelle Dias
My name is Favita Rochelle Dias. Since childhood I have loved dancing, listening music, playing cricket, football and any other sports. I never really liked reading much but, now reading has become an important activity. This new hobby has inspired me and has helped me re-discover myself. This re-discovery resulted in an article that was published on savari (http://www.dalitweb.org/?p=2963), a website run by dalit women activists. This article was about the process of embracing my tribal identity despite the fear of discrimination being faced. The publication of the article has opened the doors to a larger world. I want to explore further the issue of caste and reservation, its politics and historicity.
I was born on 15th July 1990. I have one elder brother. I was brought up in a middle class family and did my initial schooling form St. Joseph High School in Shiroda, Ponda, Goa. In 1998 we shifted to Curtorim. Here I completed my high school from Our Lady of Carmel High School and finished higher secondary education from St. Alex Higher Secondary School. I secured a Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Smt. Parvatibai Chowgule College, Margao, in 2010 and then went on to get a M.A. in Sociology from Goa University in 2012. I cleared the National Eligibility Test(NET) in June 2015. Being NET cleared is one of the criteria for getting a job as an Assistant Pofessor.
I always wanted to be a teacher. Soon after my M.A. I joined an open school, National Academy, in Margao where I taught the students of 10th and 12th class. I worked part- time in a call center after I quit teaching, just to try a different field. Then I started teaching Sociology at Fr. Agnel College, Pilar, in 2013 and simultaneously worked as Research Assistant on a project titled ‘Ethnic Relations of Expatriate Workers: A Gulf Model’.
In 2014 I assisted another research project titled ‘The Local Bases of Global health: Primary Health Care in South Asia and beyond, 1945-2010’. Currently I am teaching Sociology at Maria Bambina Higher Secondary School, Cuncolim and just finished with a course ‘Society and Architecture’ at Goa College of Architecture. Although I have just started with this journey, I also want to re-work on my M.A dissertation titled ‘Religion, Religiosity and Morality: A Study of Guilt Related to Sexuality Among Goa University Students’.