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{{short description|American-born Indian sociologist}}
{{BLP sources|date=April 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Gail Omvedt
| image = Gail Omvedt, India.jpg
| caption =
| birth_place = [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]], United States
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1941|8|2}}
| notableworks = [http://www.sagepub.in/authorDetails.nav?contribId=521891 ''Dalits and the Democratic Revolution''], ''We Shall Smash this Prison: Indian Women in Struggle'', ''Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India''
| alma_mater = [[Carleton College]]<br />[[University of California, Berkeley]]
| awards = Dr. Ambedkar Chetna Award, Manavwadi Rachna Manch Punjab, August 2003, Savitribai Phule Puraskar, Padmashri Kavivarya Narayan Surve Sarvajanik Vacanalay, Nashik, 2002
| occupation = Writer, essayist, activist
| period = 1970–present
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Bharat Patankar]]|1976}}
| nationality = Indian
}}

'''Gail Omvedt''' is an [[United States|American]]-born Indian scholar, sociologist and human rights activist. She is a prolific writer and has published numerous books on the anti-caste movement, Dalit politics, and women's struggles in India. Omvedt has been involved in [[Dalit]] and anti-[[caste]] movements, [[Environmental movement|environmental]], [[farmers' movement|farmers']] and [[women's movement]]s, 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 having undertaken many research projects, Dr Omvedt has been a consultant for FAO, UNDP and NOVIB and has 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 Trust]].

==Biography==
Gail Omvedt was born in [[Minneapolis]], and studied at [[Carleton College]] and at [[UC Berkeley]] where she earned her PhD in sociology in 1973. She has been an Indian citizen since 1983. She currently lives in rural India in a town in Maharashtra called Kasegaon with her husband, [[Bharat Patankar]], her mother-in-law [[Indumati Babuji Patankar|Indumati Patankar]] and cousins.
In recent years she has been working as a consulting sociologist on gender, environment and rural development, for the [[United Nations Development Programme]] (UNDP), [[Oxfam Novib]] (NOVIB) and other institutions. She has been a consultant for UN agencies and NGOs, has served as a Dr. Ambedkar Chair Professor at NISWASS in Orissa, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Pune, as Asian Guest Professor at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen and as a Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. She has been a Visiting Professor and Coordinator, School of Social Justice, University of Pune and a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. Gail Omvedt is a former Chair Professor for the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Chair of Social Change and Development at IGNOU.

==Activism==
She has worked actively with social movements in India, including the Dalit and anti-caste movements, environmental movements, farmers’ movements and especially with rural women. She has been active in [[Shramik Mukti Dal]], Stri Mukti Sangarsh Chalval which works on issues of abandoned women in Sangli and Satara districts of southern Maharashtra, and the Shetkari Mahila Aghadi, which works on issues of women's land rights and political power.

==Views==
Omvedt is critical of the religious scriptures of Hinduism (or what she specifically regards as "brahminism") for what she argues is their promotion of a caste-based society.

In addition to her criticism of their purported advocacy for the caste-system, Omvedt has also dismissed the Hindu tradition of venerating the Vedas as holy. In a 2000 open letter published in ''[[The Hindu]]'' addressed to then-[[BJP]] President [[Bangaru Laxman]], Omvedt gives her perspective on the [[Rigveda]]:
<blockquote>
As for the Vedas, they are impressive books, especially the Rg Veda. I can only say this only from translations, but I am glad that the ban on women and shudras reading them has been broken, and that good translations by women and shudras themselves are available. But to take them as something holy? Read them for yourself! Most of the hymns are for success in war, cattle- stealing, love-making and the like. They celebrate conquest; the hymns about Indra and Vrtra sound suspiciously as if the Aryans were responsible for smashing dams built by the Indus valley people; though archeologists tell us there is no evidence for direct destruction by "Aryan invasion", the Rg Veda gives evidence of enmity between the Aryans and those they called dasyus, panis and the like.<ref name="Omvedt-Hindu2">Gail Omvedt, [http://www.thehindu.com/2000/10/11/stories/05112524.htm An open letter to Bangaru Laxman - II]{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''The Hindu'', 2000.</ref></blockquote>

Omvedt posits that [[Hindutva]] groups foster an [[ethnic]] definition of [[Hinduism]] based on geography, ancestry and heritage in order to create a solidarity amongst various castes, despite the prevalence of caste-based discrimination.<ref name="Omvedt-Hindu">Gail Omvedt, [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/02/25/stories/2003022500251000.htm Hindutva and ethnicity], ''The Hindu'', Feb 25, 2003 {{webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5vF8W29C0?url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/02/25/stories/2003022500251000.htm |date=25 December 2010 }}</ref>

Omvedt endorsed the stand taken by Dalit activists at the 2001 [[World Conference Against Racism]] that caste discrimination is similar to racism in regarding discriminated groups as "biologically inferior and socially dangerous".<ref name="Omvedt-Hindu" />

She has called the United States a "racist country" and has advocated for [[affirmative action]]; however, she compares American positive-discrimination policies favorably to those of India, stating:
<blockquote>
It is a sad comment on the state of Indian industrialists' social consciousness that such discussions have begun in an organised way in the U.S. before they have been thought of in India itself.
<ref>Gail Omvedt, [https://archive.today/20120906110749/http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20030829&fname=Gail&sid=1 Mythologies of Merit], ''Outlook'', Aug 29, 2003 (requires registration)([http://www.countercurrents.org/dalit-omvedt290803.htm Convenience link]) {{webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5vF8ZE9oZ?url=http://www.countercurrents.org/dalit-omvedt290803.htm |date=25 December 2010 }}</ref>
</blockquote>
and, with respect to perceptions of "group performance", in the United States and India, Omvedt writes:
<blockquote>
Whereas the U.S. debate assumes an overall equal distribution of capacity among social groups, in India the assumption seems to be that the unequal showing of different caste groups on examinations, in education, etc. is a result of actual different capacities.
</blockquote>

She has on occasion supported big-dam projects<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.narmada.org/debates/gail/gail.open.letter.html |title=Gail Omvedt, Open Letter To Arundhathi Roy |access-date=27 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026041539/http://www.narmada.org/debates/gail/gail.open.letter.html |archive-date=26 October 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and GMO crops.<ref>Gail Omvedt, Burning Farmer's Fields (Part 1), The Hindu, 9 November 2010, [https://web.archive.org/web/20121108155602/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/11/09/stories/05092524.htm]</ref><ref>Gail Omvedt, Burning Farmer's Fields (Part 2), The Hindu, 10 November 2010, [https://web.archive.org/web/20030907225908/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/11/10/stories/05102524.htm]</ref>

==Controversy and criticism==

===Andre Beteille's criticism===
Omvedt's portrayal of caste-discrimination and violence as forms of "[[racism]]" was opposed by the Indian government<ref name="npr">[https://www.npr.org/programs/specials/racism/010828.caste.html An Untouchable Subject?], NPR, Aug. 29, 2001 {{webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5vF8Wkyz4?url=http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/racism/010828.caste.html |date=25 December 2010 }}</ref> and sociologists in India, including [[Andre Beteille]], who while acknowledging that discrimination exists, deeply opposed treating caste as a form of racism "simply to protect against prejudice and discrimination", describing such attempts as "politically mischievous" and "worse, scientifically nonsense".<ref>[http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/06/03/stories/13030611.htm Discrimination that must be cast away],''The Hindu'', June 03, 2001 {{webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5vF8XimfD?url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/06/03/stories/13030611.htm |date=25 December 2010 }}</ref><ref>Andre Béteille, [http://wcar.alrc.net/mainfile2.php/For+the+negative/14/ Race and caste], ''The Hindu'', 10 March 2001 {{webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5vF8YOsRE?url=http://wcar.alrc.net/mainfile2.php/For+the+negative/14/ |date=25 December 2010 }}</ref>
Beteille argues (that):
<blockquote>
In the past, some groups claimed superior rights on the ground that they belonged to the Aryan race or the Teutonic race. The anthropologists rejected such claims on two grounds: first, on the ground that within the same human species no race is superior to any other; but also on the ground that there is no such thing as an Aryan race or a Teutonic race. We cannot throw out the concept of race by the front door when it is misused for asserting social superiority and bring it in again through the back door to misuse it in the cause of the oppressed. The metaphor of race is a dangerous weapon whether it is used for asserting white supremacy or for making demands on behalf of disadvantaged groups.
</blockquote>

===Marxist critique===
Omvedt has been criticized for a perceived "anti-statist" bias in her writing as well as "neo-liberal" economic sympathies. Scholars have also questioned the sincerity of her claims regarding the "authenticity" of her work, writing:<ref name="Ghadar">[http://www.proxsa.org/resources/ghadar/v2n1/omvedt.html SAPs, Dust, and Hot Air: Gail Omvedt and Liberalization], Ghadar, Nov. 1, 1998 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011010414/http://www.proxsa.org/resources/ghadar/v2n1/omvedt.html |date=11 October 2014}}</ref>
<blockquote>
In this paragraph, Omvedt is transformed from dangerous American outsider to revolutionary insider, player of a song proclaiming: 'We will cut the throats of the rich!' The chapter strategically ends with these words, which, written and sung though they are by anonymous labourers, can be heard only through Omvedt's (technological) agency. The rest, as they say, is history. The remainder of the book unsubtly suggests what Omvedt does not say explicitly--that she has accepted the leadership role thrust upon her by the initially skeptical masses.
</blockquote>

==Works==
Omvedt's dissertation was on ''Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The NonBrahman Movement in Western India, 1873-1930'' (reprint of 1976 book) (New Delhi, Manohar, 2011).

Omvedt's academic writing includes numerous books and articles on class, caste and gender issues, most notably:<ref name="books">{{cite web | url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/229688.Gail_Omvedt | title=Books by Gail Omvedt | accessdate=30 March 2014}}</ref>

* ''Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The NonBrahman Movement in Maharashtra'' (Scientific Socialist Education Trust, 1966)
* ''We Shall Smash This Prison: Indian Women in Struggle'' (1979)
* "We Will Smash This Prison!.: Indian Women in Struggle " (Zed, 1980)
* "Violence Against Women: New Movements And New Theories In India" (Kali for Women, 1991)
* ''Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements in India'' (M.E. Sharpe, 1993)
* ''Gender and Technology: Emerging Asian Visions'' (1994)
* '' Dalits And The Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar And The Dalit Movement In Colonial India'' (Sage India, 1994)
* ''Dalit Visions: the Anticaste movement and Indian Cultural Identity'' (Orient Longman, 1995)
* ''Growing Up Untouchable: A Dalit Autobiography'' (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000)
* ''Buddhism in India : Challenging Brahmanism and Caste'' (SageIndia, 2003)
* "Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened India " (Penguin, 2005)
* ''Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectuals'' (New Delhi, Navayana, 2009)
* "Understanding Caste: From Buddha To Ambedkar And Beyond" (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2011)
* '' Songs of Tukoba with Bharat Patankar she has published (translations)'' (Manohar, 2012)
* Jotirao Phule and the Ideology of Social Revolution in India<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Omvedt|first1=Gail|title=Jotirao Phule and the Ideology of Social Revolution in India|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|date=September 11, 1971}}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Matoshree Bhimabai Ambedkar Award]] (2012)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/marathi/lokmanthan-epaper-lokmanth/pra+aashalata+kambale+yanna+bhimabai+aambedakar+puraskar-newsid-76027640?listname=topicsList&index=0&topicIndex=0&mode=pwa|title=Dailyhunt|website=m.dailyhunt.in|language=en|access-date=2018-11-13}}</ref>
* BA received Magna Cum Laude, with Distinction in Senior Comprehensive Examinations
* PhD qualifying examinations passed with Distinction
* Honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, 1964–65
* Fulbright Fellowship as Tutor in English in India, June 1963-March 1964
* University of California Graduate Fellowships, 1964–65, 1965–66
* American Institute of Indian Studies, Junior Fellowship for PhD research in India on “The NonBrahman Movement in Maharashtra,” January–December 1971
* American Association of University Women, Fellowship for research on “Women’s Movement in India,” January–December 1975
* Savitribai Phule Puraskar, Padmashri Kavivarya Narayan Surve Sarvajanik Vacanalay, Nashik, 2002
* Dr. Ambedkar Chetna Award, Manavwadi Rachna Manch Punjab, August, 2003
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsn70evlELQ ABP Majha Sanman Purskar], 2012
* [[Vitthal Ramji Shinde]] Award, April 2015

==See also==
* [[Forward Press]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://seekingbegumpura.wordpress.com/about/ Blog] by Gail Omvedt
* [http://sociology.berkeley.edu/gail-omvedt-1964 Profile] of Gail Omvedt, UC Berkeley sociology website
* [http://www.umich.edu/~indiads/gail.html Profile] of Gail Omvedt, University of Michigan website
* [http://www.sagepub.com/authorDetails.nav?contribId=521891 Profile] f Gail Omvedt, Sage Publication
* [http://casi.ssc.upenn.edu/events/dsc2008/bios/omvedt Profile] of Gail Omvedt, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania.
* Gail Omvedt, [https://web.archive.org/web/20081026041539/http://www.narmada.org/debates/gail/gail.open.letter.html An Open Letter To Arundhati Roy]
* Gail Omvedt, [http://perso.orange.fr/sacw/saan/omvedt.html The Hindutva bomb], published in ''The Hindu'', June 20, 1998
* Gail Omvedt, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927215710/http://www.epw.org.in/epw/uploads/articles/8133.pdf Caste System and Hinduism], ''Economic and Political Weekly'', March 13, 2004
* [https://www.webcitation.org/5vF8W29C0?url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/02/25/stories/2003022500251000.htm Hindutva and ethnicity - Gail Omvedt.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030825153031/http://144.16.65.194/hpg/envis/doc97html/envenv627.html Why Dalits dislike environmentalists - Gail Omvedt]
*

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[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Environmental sociologists]]
[[Category:American women social scientists]]
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:English-language writers from India]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
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[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
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[[Category:21st-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]
[[Category:20th-century American people]]

Gail Omvedt - Revision history

->Citation bot: Alter: url. URLs might have been anonymized. Add: work. Removed parameters. Some additions/deletions were parameter name changes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by AManWithNoPlan | #UCB_webform 221/2197

>Scorpions13256: Removing from Category:21st-century Indian scientists using Cat-a-lot