Gail Omvedt

Gail Omvedt
Born(1941-08-02)2 August 1941
Minneapolis, Minnesota,
United States
Died25 August 2021(2021-08-25) (aged 80)
Kasegaon, Sangli District, Maharashtra, India
OccupationWriter, essayist, activist
Nationality
  • American (1941–1983)
  • Indian (1983–2021)
Alma materCarleton College
University of California, Berkeley
Period1970–2021
Notable works
  • Dalits and the Democratic Revolution
  • Seeking Begumpura
  • We Shall Smash this Prison: Indian Women in Struggle
  • Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India
Notable awardsDr. Ambedkar Chetna Award, Manavwadi Rachna Manch Punjab, August 2003, Savitribai Phule Puraskar, Padmashri Kavivarya Narayan Surve Sarvajanik Vacanalay, Nashik, 2002
Spouse
​
(m. 1976)​
ChildrenPrachi Patankar (daughter)
RelativesIndumati Babuji Patankar (mother-in-law)

Gail Omvedt (2 August 1941 – 25 August 2021) was an American-born Indian sociologist and human rights activist.[1][2][3][4] She was a prolific writer and published numerous books on the anti-caste movement, Dalit politics, and women's struggles in India. Omvedt was involved in Dalit and anti-caste movements, environmental, farmers' and women's movements, especially with rural women.

Omvedt's dissertation was titled Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The Non-Brahman Movement in Western India, 1873-1930.

Omvedt's academic writing includes numerous books and articles on class, caste and gender issues. Besides undertaking many research projects, she was a consultant for FAO, UNDP and NOVIB and served as a Dr Ambedkar Chair Professor at NISWASS in Orissa, a professor of sociology at the University of Pune and an Asian guest professor at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen. She was a senior fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and research director of the Krantivir Babuji Patankar Sanstha.

  1. ^ Dutt, Yashica. "Long Live Comrade Gail". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 15 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  2. ^ "India Will Remember Gail Omvedt Forever". The Wire. Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  3. ^ BAVADAM, LYLA (25 August 2021). "Gail Omvedt, voice of Dalits, passes away". Frontline. Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  4. ^ Yengde, Suraj (25 August 2021). "Gail Omvedt took caste to global audience that was fed only a Brahminical point of view". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.