Shamita Dasgupta

Shamita Dasgupta, born February 1949, is an Indian-born American scholar and activist. A social activist since early 1970s, she co-founded Manavi in 1985. It is the first organization of its kind that focuses on violence against South Asian women in the United States. A part-time teacher and full-time community worker, she has written extensively in the areas of ethnicity, gender, immigration, and violence against women. Her books include: A Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America, Body Evidence: Intimate Violence Against South Asian Women in America, Globalization and Transnational Surrogacy in India: Outsourcing Life, and Mothers for Sale: Women in Kolkata's Sex Trade. She has been translating feminist stories from Bengali extensively for the past few years.