Contact:	Suzanne Trimel					For immediate release
		(212) 854-6579					March  17, 1998
		smt4@columbia.edu



Domestic Violence Among South Asian Immigrants
Topic of April 4 Conference at St. John's University


	Religious leaders, social workers, health professionals, scholars and 
womens' activists will participate in a daylong conference Saturday, April 4, on  
domestic violence in the South Asian immigrant community jointly sponsored by 
Columbia and St. John's universities.
	The conference, organized by the Dharma Hinduja Indic Research Center 
at Columbia and several departments at St. John's and to be held at Bent Hall at 
St. John's, is open to the public.  The conference fee is $15, or $20 if received after 
March 27.  The hours are 8:45 A.M. to 5 P.M.  Call (212) 854-5300 to make a 
reservation.
	"This is an opportunity for individuals and organizations in the 
metropolitan New York area to focus on how domestic violence affects the South 
Asian community and to build community coalitions around this important 
issue," said Sandhya Nankani, the conference coordinator.
	Ms. Nankani, coordinator of special projects for the Dharam Hinduja 
Center at Columbia, said topics for discussion will include the role of religious 
institutions in preventing domestic violence and aiding victims, strategies for 
building effective community coalitions, the role of men in the South Asian 
community; the effects of domestic violence on second generation South Asians, 
domestic violence against the elderly, disabled and gays and lesbians, and legal 
and social challenges faced by battered women.
	Ms. Nankani said women in immigrant communities may be particularly 
vulnerable to an abusive mate.  "They feel uncertainty about their legal and 
resident status within their new country and they often are wholly dependent on a 
spouse financially.  The set of issues are unique for immigrants.  And, you have 
the atmosphere of secrecy and shame in which there is a great divide between 
public and private ... the idea that what goes on within my house is my business.  
And many women simply do not know where to find help -- or do not know that it 
is available."
	The conference, said Ms. Nankani, is also an effort to educate health 
professionals who work in South Asian communities but may be unfamiliar with 
cultural and social traditions, such as arranged marriages.
	To deal with the problem of domestic violence, many women's groups have 
organized over the last decade within areas where South Asian populations are 
significant.  These include Sakhi in New York City and Manavi in Union, N.J., 
the oldest South Asian women's group in the United States.
	The religious traditions within the South Asian community -- Hindu, 
Muslim, Sikh and Roman Catholic -- are viewed as an important link in helping 
battered women. A session about this relationship is scheduled for 10:15 A.M. to 
12:30 P.M.  Participants will be Dr. Helen E. Sheehan of the Departments of 
Sociology and Anthropology and Dr. Habibeh Rahaim of the Department of 
Theology and Religious Studies, both at St. John's; Dr. Mary McGee of the 
Religion Department at Columbia; Ruksana Ayyub of the Long Island Islamic 
Center; Chan Jamoona of the Arya Spiritual Center; Gagandeep Kaur of the Sikh 
Women's International Organization; Prema Vora of Sakhi for South Asian 
Women, and the Rev. John Mendonca of Mary Queen of Heaven Roman Catholic 
Church.
	The conference is co-sponsored by Marine Midland Bank, American 
Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, New York Asian Women's Center, 
and Pragati Inc.  Special assistance was received from Catholic Charities, 
Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, and the Queens Borough President's Task Force 
Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence.
	Other organizations participating in the conference are: New York City 
Anti-Violence Project; Asian-Indian Women in America; South Asian Youth 
Action, and the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence.

This document is available at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/pr/.

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