Supriya Singh – författare

Supriya Singh tells the stories of 12 Anglo-Celtic and Indian women in Australia who survived economic abuse. She describes the lived experience of coercive control underlying economic abuse across cultures.

Each story shows how the woman was trapped and lost her freedom because her husband denied her money, appropriated her assets and sabotaged her ability to be in paid work. These stories are about silence, shame and embarrassment that this could happen despite professional and graduate education. Some of the women were the main earners in their household. Women spoke of being afraid, of trying to leave, of losing their sense of self. Many suffered physical and mental ill-health, not knowing what would trigger the violence. Some attempted suicide. None of the women fully realised they were suffering family violence through economic abuse, whilst it was happening to them.

The stories of Anglo-Celtic and Indian women show economic abuse is not associated with a specific system of money management and control. It is when the morality of money is betrayed that control becomes coercive. Money as a medium of care then becomes a medium of abuse.

The women’s stories demonstrate the importance of talking about money and relationships with future partners, across life stages and with their sons and daughters. The women saw this as an essential step for preventing and lessening economic abuse.

A vital read for scholars of domestic abuse and family violence that will also be valuable for sociologists of money.

Supriya Singh tells the stories of 12 Anglo-Celtic and Indian women in Australia who survived economic abuse. She describes the lived experience of coercive control underlying economic abuse across cultures.

Each story shows how the woman was trapped and lost her freedom because her husband denied her money, appropriated her assets and sabotaged her ability to be in paid work. These stories are about silence, shame and embarrassment that this could happen despite professional and graduate education. Some of the women were the main earners in their household. Women spoke of being afraid, of trying to leave, of losing their sense of self. Many suffered physical and mental ill-health, not knowing what would trigger the violence. Some attempted suicide. None of the women fully realised they were suffering family violence through economic abuse, whilst it was happening to them.

The stories of Anglo-Celtic and Indian women show economic abuse is not associated with a specific system of money management and control. It is when the morality of money is betrayed that control becomes coercive. Money as a medium of care then becomes a medium of abuse.

The women’s stories demonstrate the importance of talking about money and relationships with future partners, across life stages and with their sons and daughters. The women saw this as an essential step for preventing and lessening economic abuse.

A vital read for scholars of domestic abuse and family violence that will also be valuable for sociologists of money.

This book tells the story of nearly five decades of Indian migration to Australia from the late 1960s to 2015, through the eyes of migrants and their families. Firstly, there is the marked increase of Indian migrants, shifting from the earlier professionals to a dominance of student-migrants. The India-born in Australia are the fourth largest overseas born group. Secondly, remittances flow two ways in families between Australia and India. Thirdly, family communication across borders has become instantaneous and frequent, changing the experience of migration, family and money. Fourthly, mobility replaces the earlier assumption of settlement. Recent migrants hope to settle, but the large group who have come to study face a long period of precarious mobility. Lastly, recent migrants re-imagine the joint family in Australia, buying homes to accommodate siblings and parents. This is changing the contours of some major cities in Australia.