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Prof. Shweta Singh Bringing South Asian Diaspora Women Into the Conversation
School of Social Work Associate Professor Shweta Singh, Ph.D. and Jim Collins from the School of Communication, recently premiered their co-directed short fiction film “Why Don’t You Speak, Nina?” at the prestigious Chicago South Asian Film Festival 2024. The Chicago South Asian Film festival has become central to Chicago culture and diversity landscape in its 14 years of running.
“The film has a ‘language of silence’,” Singh said. “It conveys a conversation that we don’t actually hear. The woman doesn’t speak at all, she is just seen listening to others. And the reason she doesn’t talk is she feels nobody cares about, what she has to say.”
The film was written by Singh and edited by Loyola School of Communications TV Studio Manager Jim Collins. It was well-received by the film festival audiences, who noted Singh’s ability to tell a powerful, thought-provoking, relatable story.
Embracing various mediums to tell stories that translate health and mental health research on women for the women, is a strategy that Singh has focused on throughout her career – this project is actually a return to filmmaking for Singh, following her first documentary “The Making of Indian Womanhood”, which was premiered at Chicago Library at Van Buren in 2016. She has authored a novel ‘Red Chilli Pickle and Moonlit Terraces’ and several plays. Singh produced and hosted a show ‘Global Desi World & Women’ on Loyola Radio WLUW 88.7 FM for ten years. She teaches courses on advocacy for empowering women using audio documentary as a medium.
At an upcoming talk on October 10, Singh will be reading an excerpt from her play ‘My Frustrated Lady’. Like the movie, the play showcases Indian women in the diaspora and draws attention to women’s mental health and need for cultural competency in health workers.
At the talk, along with a reading of the play, Singh will present a research and practice informed lecture on topics on social values, economic status, mental and physical health, and well-being of women in the Indian Diaspora. Considering the large number of Diaspora Indian women in Chicago and the U.S., understanding women from divergent perspectives, and endeavoring for their empowerment locally, nationally, and globally is important to the discipline of Social Work and other fields.
Singh hopes the interest in events like her film premiere and upcoming talk will drive interest of people to training offered by the Empowering Women Certificate Program, of which she is the program director. That certificate is offered entirely online, in an asynchronous format, allowing students to work through the material in a way that works for them. The certificate is designed for social workers and others in “helping fields” like teaching, nursing, and public health. Singh said any type of professional who wants to work with a women clientele and their empowerment will benefit from this certificate.
“The South Asian Women’s diaspora is an under-researched demographic, like many other population subgroups. What that means is, we need more people to work with these type of subgroups,” Singh said. “This certificate offers the opportunity to train people to do just that.”
Singh hopes to organize additional screenings of “Why Don’t You Speak, Nina?” in the near future.
Register for Singh’s October 10 talk here.
Learn more about the Empowering Women Certificate program here
