Gail Omvedt

Title

Gail Omvedt

Description

Sociologist: Caste Inequality

Rights

Birth Date

1941

Birthplace

Minneapolis - worked in India

Death Date

2021, India

Primary Sources

Omvedt, G. ([1974] 2024). From 50 Years Ago: Non-Brahmans and Nationalist in Poona, 59 (8) Economics and Political Weekly. https://www.epw.in/journal/2024/8/50-years-ago/50-years-ago%C2%A0non-brahmans-and-nationalists-poona.html

Omvedt, G. ([1994], 2021). Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India. Accessed 12 May 2025 https://archive.org/details/dalits-and-the-democratic-revolution-dr-ambedkar-and-the-dalit-movement-in-colonial-india

Omvedt, G. ([2004] 2017). Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened India, India: Penguin, Internet Archive, Accessed 20 Mar 2025, https://archive.org/details/ambedkar-towards-an-enlightened-india

Omvedt, G. ([2008], 2016). Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectuals, 20th anniversary edition, Navayana, Internet Archive, 2021, Accessed 20 Mar 2025.  https://archive.org/details/seeking-begumpura-the-social-vision-of-anticaste-intellectuals

Omvedt, G. (2006). Dalit Visions: Tracts for this Time, Orient Black Swan, https://orientblackswan.com/details?id= 97881 25 028956

Omvedt, G. (2005). Capitalism and Globalisation, Dalits and Adivasis. Economic and Political Weekly40(47), 4881–4885.

Omvedt, G. (2005). Women in Governance in South Asia. Economic and Political Weekly40(44/45), 4746–4752.

Omvedt, G. (2003). Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste, India: Sage Publications. Accessed 20 Mar 2025.  https://archive.org/details/indianbuddhisminindiachallengingbrahmanismcastegailomvedt_893_F/page/n3/mode/2up

Omvedt, G. (1980). We Will Smash This Prison: Indian Women in Struggle, London: Zed Press. 

Omvedt, G. (1976). Cultural Revolution in the Colonial Society: the non-brahamic movement in Western India 1873-1930,  Bombay: Scientific Socialist Education Trust.

Omvedt, G. (1975). The political economy of starvation. Race & Class17(2), 111-130.  https://doi.org/10.1177/030639687501700201 (Original work published 1975)

Omvedt, G. (1973) Development of the Maharashtrian Class Structure, 1818 to 1931  Economic and Political Weekly 9, 8 (31 32-33)

Secondary Sources

Gaikwad, B. N., & Patil, S. R. (2017). An Interview with Dr Gail Omvedt. Writers in Conversation4(2). https://doi.org/10.22356/wic.v4i2.22

Aayushi Sangharshee. (2020). Gail Omvedt’s Dalit Visions: A Look at Various Alternative Movements Which Rose Under the Larger Dalit Movement. The Creative Launcher; Vol. 4 No. 6 (2020): February, 2020; 27-322455-6580ark:/72165/Thecreativelauncher.V4i6.

Dhanagare, D. N. (2007) Practising Sociology through History: The Indian Experience - II. 
Economic and Political Weekly 42 (34), 3499–3508. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4419945.

Visvanathan, S. (2003). Vasant Moon, Growing Up Untouchable in India: a Dalit Autobiography (trans. from Marathi by Gail Omvedt), New Delhi, Vistaar Publications, 2002. Studies in History 19(2), 294–295.

Bharat Patankar, & Omvedt, G. (1979). The Dalit Liberation Movement in Colonial Period. Economic and Political Weekly, 14(7/8), 409–424. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4367359

Extra Resources

Documentary: Director, Somnath Waghmare, Gail Omvedt and Bahrat, work in progress, Accessed June 10, 2024 https://youtu.be/t1CPxb8J8qk .

Back to Begumpura | In the memory of Gail Omvedt | Shruti Tambe | Bidhan Chandra Dash, Panelists, Shruti Tambe (Savitribai Phule Pune University) and Bidhan Chandra Dash,  B R Ambedkar University, New Delhi), Galp Lok,  Accessed March 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAeeT3R2Ndg

Citation

“Gail Omvedt,” Decoloniality, First Nations Thinkers and thought and practices from the Global South, accessed December 6, 2025, https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/decoloniality-and-thinkers-from-the-global-south/items/show/766.

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