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Amrit Wilson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amrit Wilson
Born1941 (age 82–83)
India
Occupation(s)Writer, journalist and activist
Notable workFinding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain (1978)

Amrit Wilson (born 1941)[1] is a British-Indian[2] writer, journalist and activist who since the 1970s has focused on issues of race and gender in Britain and South Asian politics.[3] Her 1978 book Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain[4] won the Martin Luther King Award, and remains an influential feminist book.[2] Her other book publications include Dreams, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain (London: Pluto Press, 2006), and as a journalist she has been published in outlets including Ceasefire Magazine,[5] Media Diversified,[6] openDemocracy[7] and The Guardian.[8][9]

Background

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Wilson grew up in India and came to Britain as a student in 1961. She became a freelance journalist in 1974, and was active as an anti-racist militant in the 1970s.[10] Wilson's book Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain, first published in 1978 and reprinted 40 years later,[11] has been described as "[c]hallenging the views of South Asian women as weak, submissive, one-dimensional stereotypes" and as having "cleared the space for Asian women to speak for themselves".[12] Wilson was a founder member of Awaz, the UK's first Asian feminist collective, and was active in OWAAD, the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent (1978–82).[3][13] She was formerly chair of Imkaan, a national network of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee women's refuges and services for women facing violence, and is a founder member of South Asia Solidarity Group.[7][14]

She also was Senior Lecturer in Women's Studies/South Asian Studies at Luton University,[15] and has carried an Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI).[16]

In April 2024, Wilson revealed that she had had her OCI card withdrawn by the Indian government and is unable to travel to India after having been accused of "anti-India activities" and "detrimental propaganda against the Indian government."[17]

Selected bibliography

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  • Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain (1978; second edition Daraja Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1988832012)
  • The Challenge Road: Women and the Eritrean Revolution (The Red Sea Press, 1991, ISBN 978-0932415714)
  • Dreams, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain (London: Pluto Press, 2006; ISBN 9780745318479)
  • The Threat of Liberation (Pluto Press, 2013; ISBN 9781849649407)

References

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  1. ^ "Amrit Wilson". Women of Substance: Profiles of Asian Women in the UK. 1997. p. 152 – via EBSCOhost.[dead link‍]
  2. ^ a b "South Asian women in Britain: Finding a voice, 40 years on". Media Diversified. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  3. ^ a b Siddiqui, Sophia (30 October 2018). "'Reclaiming our collective past': Amrit Wilson reflects on 40 years of anti-racist feminist work". gal-dem. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  4. ^ Wilson, Amrit (1 October 1978). "A burning fever: the isolation of Asian women in Britain". Race & Class. 20 (2): 129–142. doi:10.1177/030639687802000203. S2CID 145473127.
  5. ^ "Amrit Wilson". Ceasefire. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Category: Amrit Wilson". Media Dversified. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Amrit Wilson". Open Democracy.
  8. ^ "Speaker bios" (PDF). Islamophobia Conference 2017: The Rise of Nativism.
  9. ^ "Amrit Wilson". The Guardian.
  10. ^ Donnell, Alison, ed. (2002). "Seth, Roshan". Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Routledge. pp. 323–4. ISBN 978-1-134-70025-7.
  11. ^ "Event Report – 'Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain'". Islamic Human Rights Commission. 6 March 2019.
  12. ^ Goodfellow, Maya (8 June 2019). "Review – Finding a Voice: Asian women in Britain". Red Pepper. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Amrit Wilson". British Library.
  14. ^ "Amrit Wilson". The Strike at Imperial Typewriters. Archived from the original on 15 June 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Amrit Wilson". Pluto Press.
  16. ^ "Hearing adjourned in journalist's revision plea on cancelled OCI card". The Indian Express. 2023-05-23. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
  17. ^ Barnett, Marcus (2024-04-26). "Solidarity With Amrit Wilson". Tribune. Archived from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
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