Speaking the Unspeakable: Marital Violence Among South Asian Immigrants in the United States

By Margaret Abraham

Book Overview

Over the past 20 years, much work has focused on domestic violence, yet little attention has been paid to the causes, manifestations, and resolutions to marital violence among ethnic minorities, especially recent immigrants. Margaret Abraham's Speaking the Unspeakable is the first book to focus on South Asian women's experiences of domestic violence, defined by the author as physical, sexual, verbal, mental, or economic coercion, power, or control perpetrated on a woman by her spouse or extended kin. Abraham explains how immigration issues, cultural assumptions, and unfamiliarity with American social, legal, economic, and other institutional systems, coupled with stereotyping, make these women especially vulnerable to domestic violence.

Abraham lets readers hear the voices of abused South Asian women. Through their stories, we learn of their weaknesses and strengths, and of their experiences of domestic violence within the larger cultural, social, economic, and political context. We see both the individual strategies of resistance against their abusers as well as the pivotal role South Asian organizations play in helping these women escape abusive relationships.

Abraham also describes the central role played by South Asian activism as it emerged in the 1980s in the United States, and addresses the ideas and practices both within and outside of the South Asian community that stereotype, discriminate, and oppress South Asians in their everyday lives.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813527937
• ISBN13: 9780813527932
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A Much-Needed Voice

Margaret successfully draws attention to a topic considered taboo by most South Asians: Marital Violence. This book is a perfect blend of factual information and personal stories. Together, they form an invaluable resource useful to anyone interested in learning about marital violence in a community that brings its own complications to the already-so situation. The narratives help put a human face on this global crisis. The analysis and framework provided by Abraham help contextualize these women's dilemmas. The reader will walk away without the judgemental eyes they may have once seen from. Since not many other sources are willing to tackle this complex subject, this is a must-have and more importantly, a must-read.

Extraordinary insight into an extremely contested discourse

Margaret Abraham has poured an enormous effort into sorting out the various dynamics, both above the surface and well below, of the discourse centering on the plight of South Asian women coming to the United States. It is to her credit that her research has such size and substance yet provides compelling reading, with implications for many other areas of scholarship, including feminist theory. Her narrative, rich as it is in detail from the interviews she conducted, has to do with discerning ways that scholars document brutal secrets existing in an extremely contested discourse, not that of assigning some kind of victimhood. This is an important work on a difficult topic. A must read.

An important addition to the study of domectic violence

Speaking the Unspeakable explores the issues surrounding family violence in the South Asian community. Factors such as immigration status, accepted gender roles and the maintenance of the model minority are discussed. Furthermore, through the voices of survivors, Abraham challenges the stereotypes of Asian women as passive and submissive. She shows the strategies used by these women to combat family violence on both personal and community levels. The book is certainly helpful to anyone doing research either in the South Asian community or on domestic violence generally. However, it is written so that it is also accessible as a resource for those with no academic training. This is not dry scholarly writing. It is a richly woven story that details the complexities of domestic violence for the South Asian community in the United States.