List of Contributors
- List of Contributors
Sabrina Alimahomed is a visiting professor at California State University, Long Beach in the departments of sociology and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. She is currently a research fellow at the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Anaheim, California. This research draws on her dissertation, which was generously supported through the Society for the Study of Social Problems Racial and an Ethnic Minority Scholarship.
Sayu Bhojwani is the founder of The New American Leaders Project, which works to increase the number of U.S. elected officials from immigrant backgrounds. From 2002 to 2004, she served as New York City’s Commissioner for Immigrant Affairs under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. In 1997, she founded South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!), the only organization working to empower South Asian youth in the United States, serving as its executive director for five years. She also has worked at Bloomberg LP in London and at Bloomberg Philanthropies in New York. Bhojwani holds an M.A. in English Education and a M.Ed. in Comparative Education from Columbia University and has received numerous awards for her community work. She serves on the boards of the National Immigration Forum and The Afterschool Corporation. Bhojwani was born in India, grew up in Belize, and moved to New York City in 1984, where she lives with her husband and daughter.
Subhash Kateel, a community organizer at the Florida Immigrant Coalition, was a co-founder and co-director of Families for Freedom, a multiethnic network of immigrants facing deportation. He has extensive experience in antidetention work. He has worked at Jesuit Refugee Services and American Friends Service Committee (Wayfarer House) as a caseworker for formerly detained asylum seekers. He also initiated and coordinated the detention project for Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM). Subhash has received various honors for his organizing work, including a Soros New York Community Fellow and the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Detention Watch Network. He was on the grant making board for the Funding Exchange’s Saguaro Fund. He attended Michigan State University, where he studied International Studies and Psychology, and he earned a masters in science for social work from Columbia University.
Valarie Kaur is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, advocate, and public speaker. A third-generation Sikh American, she uses storytelling to advance social action campaigns on racial justice, immigration reform, religious pluralism, and gender equality. Her critically acclaimed documentary Divided We Fall (2008) on hate crimes after Sept 11 has inspired national grass-roots [End Page 485] dialogue. In 2011, she joined Auburn Theological Seminary as the director of Groundswell, a broad-based initiative to spark and empower the multifaith movement for justice. She has been invited to speak on her work in 150 U.S. cities and media outlets such as CNN, NPR, the New York Times, and the BBC. Kaur earned bachelors’ degrees in religion and international relations at Stanford University, a masters in theological studies at Harvard Divinity School, and a law degree at Yale Law School, where she teaches visual advocacy as a Knight Law and Media Fellow.
Monami Maulik was born in Kolkata, India and raised in the Bronx. She holds a B.A. from Cornell University in Global Development, Studies, Women’s, and South Asian studies. From 1997 to 2000, she was an organizing committee member of the NY Taxi Workers’ Alliance, and Director of TICO (Training Institute for Careers in Organizing). In 2000, Monami founded DRUM—Desis Rising Up & Moving. As executive director, she leads strategies in campaigns and builds working-class leadership. She is a board member of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a steering committee member of the United Anti-war Committee, and an advisory board member of the North Star Fund. In 2001, Monami received the Union Square Award and the Open Society Institute Community Fellowship of the George Soros Foundation. In 2002, she received the Jane Bagely Lehman Award from the Tides Foundation “Honoring Post 9/11 Organizing for Immigrant Rights and Civil Liberties.”
Soniya Munshi is a doctoral student in sociology and women’s studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her dissertation research looks...
