OCC2022_Amrita_Kumar-Ratta_HS

Amrita Kumar-Ratta

Our Bodies Our Voices: Re-Imagining Reproductive Justice in ‘Punjabi Canada’ | Brampton, ON

Amrita Kumar-Ratta is a storyteller, educator, mobilizer, and strategist who is passionate about creating socially inclusive, anti-oppressive, and creatively expressed societies driven by the values and principles of intersectional feminism. She holds a range of experiences across the public, non-profit, and post-secondary education sectors with particular emphasis on gender equity and justice; migration, mobility, and the diasporic experience; and sustainable community development. She is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto, in addition to being the Founder & Creator of Shades of Brown Girl, a global platform for creative storytelling and community healing for diverse South Asian-identifying women.

About the Project

This project will create much-needed community-centred space for critical conversations and creative storytelling among Punjabi women around the intergenerational trauma associated with reproductive silencing and surveillance, and around the creative ways in which Punjabi women are reclaiming reproductive agency and advocating for reproductive justice.
For this project, Amrita will facilitate a series of creative storytelling workshops for Punjabi women in Brampton, Ontario. Arts-based techniques will support participants in sharing stories about reproductive experiences.
This Peel-Region based project is part of a larger research initiative that she is currently leading as part of her doctoral work at the University of Toronto.