Customer Reviews

Breaking the Silence: Domestic Violence in the South Asian-American Community

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"Breaking the Silence" is an outstanding effort by Editor Nankani to compile an anthology of rich and diverse resources for educating and empowering those who suffer from and work with survivors of domestic violence in the South-Asian American community. The book is divided into four sections: 1. Tributes and Testimonies: Putting a Face on Domestic Violence; 2. Combatting Domestic Violence: Community Responses; 3. My Art is my Activism; and 4. Resources. This well-edited collection comprises of first person accounts, poetry and artwork by survivors, research-and practice-based recommendations for individual, group, and community interventions, and a listing of targeted resources at the end of the volume. The chapters that I found most riveting and helpful for my private practice work include those by Shamita Dasgupta, Sujata Warrier, Rahul Sharma, and Karun Singh. For advocacy content, I considered the writing by Mary McGee and Prema Vora et al. to be of high value. This book is a real eye-opener, especially for those South Asians and their naturalised counterparts who wish to continue to propagate the myth that domestic violence is not a serious problem for our "model minority" community in the U.S. Please urge all of your friends and colleagues to purchase this book as it will help those most in need of service and compassionate support.

This book nicely fills a gap concerning the status and nature of domestic violence against victims of South Asian and South Asian-American origin. The scholarly and practitioner-based material adds greatly to our understanding of prevention, treatment, research, and advocacy issues with a uniquely South Asian focus in the field of domestic violence intervention. Although expert academics and professionals can always get their work published, what I really liked was the considerable attention paid to highlighting the contributions of artists and poets. In fact, I wish there were a website, similar to that of Survivors Art Foundation, that promotes the creative products of South Asian and South Asian-American sufferers of domestic violence and other types of trauma. Such an endeavour would highlight the pain felt by artists who are fellow victims, and would also help to heal and empower them and their supporters. I feel truly privileged to have been able to write a minor chapter for this fine volume.