Gayatri Spivak's concept of Subaltern and Cultural Studies

1. GAYATRI SPIVAK ‘S CONCEPT OF
SUBALTERN AND CULTURAL STUDIES
• Name : Makwana Daksha D.
• Course : M.A (English)
• Semester : 2
• Roll no : 4
• Enrollment no : 2069108420180034
• Paper : 8 Cultural Studies
• Submitted To : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English
MKBU
• makwanadaksha9@gmail.com

2. GAYATRI CHAKRAVORTY SPIVAK

3. SUBALTERN THEORY
• A subaltern is a someone with a law ranking in a
social political or other hierarchy . It can also
mean someone who has been marginalized or
oppressed.
• The term is also used to describe someone who
has no political or economic power , such as a
poor person living under a dictatorship.
• The word subaltern denotes a person holding a
subordinate or inferior position.

4. GAYATRI SPIVAK ‘S THEORY
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak considered one of the
most influencial post – colonial intellectuals ,
Spivak is best known for her essay, “ Can the
Subaltern speak ? “
• The “ Subaltern “ is a term Spivak borrows from the
Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci to signify the
oppressed class .

5. TO BE CONTINUED…
• Gayatri Spivak ‘s essay “ Feminism and critical
theory “ studies the relationship between
Feminism , Marxism , Psychoanalysis and
critical theory through focusing on the role of a
women in society.
• Subaltern can not speak of him/ herself because
the very structure of colonial power prevents the
speaking.

7. Social
Formation
Subaltern Dominant
Group
Ideology
Class Working
classes
Capitalist
Bourgeois
Capitalism
Empire Native European Colonialism
Patriarchy Women Men Gender
Nation Ethnic
Minorities
Majority Homogeniz
ation
Nationalism

8. THE PURPOSE AND ROBINSON CRUSOE

9. CON…
• She is best known as a postcolonial theorist ,
her reputation was first made for her translation
and preface to Derrida’s “ Of Grammatology “
and she had since applied deconstructive
strategies to various textual analyses…..

10. CONCLUSION
• Spivak’s essay, “ Can the subaltern speak ? “
challenges the idea of colonial “ subject “and
offers an example of the boundaries of the
capability of western discourse , to interrelate
with incongruent cultures. This essay is marked
a paradigm shift in post colonial studies.