Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.
Can the Subaltern Speak?
A foundational text in postcolonial theory that examines oppressed groups and the problem of their representation in capitalist and patriarchal society.
In her essay “Can the Subaltern Speak? , ” Gayatri Spivak develops the concept of the “subaltern, ” first coined by the Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci in the 1930s. Gramsci used the term “subaltern” as an alternative to “worker” to describe the subordinate and oppressed position of the working class in the capitalist system. Continuing Gramsci’s thought, Spivak emphasises that “subalterns” do not just find themselves in an oppressed position, but are denied opportunities to assert their interests and even to make themselves visible.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (b. 1942) is an Indian-born American philosopher, key postcolonial theorist, professor, and the co-founder of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Social Studies at Columbia University.
Can the subaltern speak? What must the elite do to watch out for the continuing construction of the subaltern? The question of “woman” seems most problematic in this context. Clearly, if you are poor, black and female you get it in three ways.
“Can the Subaltern Speak?” examines the postcolonial context through a feminist lens. For instance, the fourth part of the essay explores “sati, ” the self-immolation rite historically practised by widows in India that was outlawed by the British colonial government in 1829. Spivak notes that the abolition of the rite has traditionally been perceived as a case of “white men saving brown women from brown men, ” while Indian “brown men” defended the national tradition by claiming that “the women actually wanted to die.” Through this example, Spivak shows the mechanism of double displacement whereby both colonisers and fellow countrymen speak for the oppressed woman at once.
Spivak touches on a wide range of other topics in the essay—from the attempts of Western intellectuals such as Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze to problematise the issue to the question of how the Third World subject is represented in Western discourse. Spivak also analyses texts by Indian historians from the self-named “Subaltern Studies” group co-founded by Ranajit Guha.
Can the Subaltern Speak? was published as part of the