Gail Omvedt

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Dr. Gail Omvedt is an American born Indian scholar, sociologist and human rights activist. She was born in Minneapolis, and studied at the Carleton College, and at the UC Berkeley where she earned her PhD in sociology in 1973. She has been an Indian citizen since 1983.

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[edit] Positions

She has been involved in the social movements in India like the Dalit and anti-caste movements, environmental movements, farmers' and women's movements.In addition, she has made accusations against the United States for being a "racist country" and has openly advocated for reverse discrimination[1].She is known for her polemics against Hindus. Her writings are popular among anti-Hindu elements within the Dalit Buddhist movement and her views are shared by fringe anti-Semitic groups such as the Dalit Voice[2] publication [3] and polemicists such as Kancha Ilaiah, who is regarded by his critics as an anti-Hindu[2].Her view is that the Caste System is unique to Hindus and Hindu culture and Hindu society is inherently inferior to all other societies[3]. This view contradicts the presence of Caste system among South Asian Muslims and Caste system among Indian Christians.

[edit] Works

Her academic writing includes numerous books and articles on class, caste and gender issues, most notably:

  • We Shall Smash This Prison: Indian Women in Struggle (1979),
  • Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements in India (1993),
  • Gender and Technology: Emerging Asian Visions (1994),
  • Dalits and the Democratic Revolution (1994),
  • Dalit Visions: the Anticaste movement and Indian Cultural Identity (1994)

Her more recent work are:

  • Buddhism in India; Challenge to Brahmanism and Caste,
  • Growing Up Untouchable: A Dalit Autobiography Among Others.

In recent years she has been working as a consulting sociologist on gender, environment and rural development, for UNDP, NOVIB and other institutions. Her dissertation was on Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The NonBrahman Movement in Western India, 1873-1930.

[edit] Criticism

She has been criticized as anti-Hindu by Rajeev Srinivasan[4]. She has also been criticized by the director of the Aeon Group for "hurling insults at Hindus" and being hypocritical in her support for Dalits when she backtracked on her sympathies by criticizing Dalit leader Bangaru Laxman for joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her attacks on Hindus have been criticized as unscholarly and based on common misconceptions about Hinduism[5]. In addition, her views on equating caste practices with racism[6] are not shared by many academics, who view caste issues as essentially intra-racial and intra-cultural.The Indian government admits caste discrimination in India is undeniable but holds the view that caste and race are entirely distinct.[7].Sociologists describe how the perception of the caste system as a static and textual stratification has given way to the perception of the caste system as a more processual, empirical and contextual stratification. Others have applied theoretical models to explain mobility and flexibility in the caste system in India.[8]. According to these scholars, groups of lower-caste individuals could seek to elevate the status of their caste by attempting to emulate the practices of higher castes.In addition, such allegations have also been rejected by many sociologists such as Andre Béteille, who writes that treating caste as a form of racism is "politically mischievous" and worse, "scientifically nonsense" since there is no discernable difference in the racial characteristics between Brahmins and Scheduled Castes. He writes that "Every social group cannot be regarded as a race simply because we want to protect it against prejudice and discrimination"[9].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mythologies of Merit by Gail Omvedt
  2. ^ Poliakov, Léon (1994). Histoire de l’antisémitisme 1945-93 (P.395). Paris.
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ Civilisation itself is under withering attacks by barbarians Rediff - November 27, 2000
  5. ^ In Defense of the Ancient Culture, by Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet, Aeon Group
  6. ^ Hindutva and ethnicity,'by Gail Omvedt
  7. ^ An Untouchable Subject?
  8. ^ James Silverberg (Nov 1969). "Social Mobility in the Caste System in India: An Interdisciplinary Symposium". The American Journal of Sociology 75 (3): 443-444. 
  9. ^ Discrimination that must be cast away,The Hindu

Source: UC Berkeley website, University of Michigan website

[edit] External links

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