Migrant and transnational populations have different and variable ways of identifying themselves, according to the places where they have settled and with the locations to where they travel or are connected to. Theethnographic research amongst communities with Indian origin living in Portugal reveals the overlapping of identity references, clearly evidencing multiple and non-exclusive belongings. Focused on mylong-term ethnography amongstseveral groups that compose the Indian diaspora in Portugal, particularly on GoanCatholics, this presentation intends to analyze the multiple belonging to Portugal, to Goa and to India, manifested in my interlocutors’ discoursesas well as in other forms of representation, such as the way they connect tomaterial culture as a form of preservation of memories and of activation of their contemporary identity. The process of selection ofobjectswithin an exhibition project, reveals thatobjects chosen by Portuguese GoanCatholicsto represent themselves vary between specifically Goanproducts, particularly associated with the Catholicbelieves and practices, and others, whose cultural matrix is Indian, not exclusive to Goa, such as objects used to the preparation of food and cooking, or linked to the agricultural practice of the region. The analysis of this object selection process will illustrate the dynamics of cultural dialogue between Goa and the rest of India, transported through colonial memories and objects, and activated in a postcolonial context, playing a central role in the construction of the cultural heritage of Goan Catholicsin Portugal.

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