Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak....
She is born on 24 February 1942.She is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is University Professor at Columbia University, where she is a founding member of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.
#Introduction:-
Considered one of the most influential postcolonial intellectuals, Spivak is best known for her essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?"
And for her translation of and introduction to Jacques Derrida's "De la grammatologie". She also translated such works of Mahasweta Devi as Imaginary Maps and Breast Stories into English and with separate critical appreciation on the texts and Devi's life and writing style in general.
#Achievements:-
Spivak was awarded the 2012 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy for being "a critical theorist and educator speaking for the humanities against intellectual colonialism in relation to the globalized world." In 2013, she received the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award given by the Republic of India...
# Definition of subaltern...
A subaltern is someone with a low ranking in a social, political, or other hierarchy. It can also mean someone who has been marginalized or oppressed.
From the Latin roots sub- ("below"), and alternus("all others"), subaltern is used to describe someone of a low rank (as in the military) or class (as in a caste system).
Subalterns occupy entry-level jobs or occupy a lower rung of the "corporate ladder." But the term is also used to describe someone who has no political or economic power, such as a poor person living under a dictatorship.
# What is Subaltern....!!!
In critical theory and post-colonialism, the term subaltern designates the populations which are socially, politically, and geographically outside of the hegemonic power structure of the colony and of the colonial homeland.
In describing "history told from below", subaltern was coined by Antonio Gramsci, notably through his work on cultural hegemony, which identified the groups that are excluded from a society's established institutions and thus denied the means by which people have a voice in their society.
In postcolonial theory, the term subaltern describes the lower classes and the social groups who are at the margins of a society: a subaltern is a person rendered without agency by social status.Nonetheless, the literary critic Gayatri Spivak spoke against an overly broad application of the term in 1992:
"subaltern is not just a classy word for "oppressed", for [the] Other, for somebody who's not getting a piece of the pie.... In post-colonial terms, everything that has limited or no access to the cultural imperialism is subaltern—a space of difference. Now, who would say that's just the oppressed? The working class is oppressed. It's not subaltern.... Many people want to claim subalternity. They are the least interesting and the most dangerous. I mean, just by being a discriminated-against minority on the university campus; they don't need the word 'subaltern'.... They should see what the mechanics of the discrimination are. They're within the hegemonic discourse, wanting a piece of the pie, and not being allowed, so let them speak, use the hegemonic discourse. They should not call themselves subaltern."
# About a concept of Subaltern:-
"Can the Subaltern Speak?" critically deals with an array of western writers starting from Marx to Foucault, Deleuze and Derrida. The basic claim and opening statement of "Can the Subaltern Speak?" is that western academic thinking is produced in order to support western economical interests. Spivak holds that knowledge is never innocent and that it expresses the interests of its producers. For Spivak knowledge is like any other commodity that is exported from the west to the third world for financial and other types of gain.
Spivak is wondering how can the third world subject be studied without cooperation with the colonial project. Spivak points to the fact that research is in a way always colonial, in defining the "other", the "over there" subject as the object of study and as something that knowledge should be extracted from and brought back "here". Basically we're talking about white men speaking to white men about colored men/women. When Spivak examines the validity of the western representation of the other, she proposes that the discursive institutions which regulate writing about the other are shut off to postcolonial or feminist scrutiny.
This limitation, Spivak holds, is sue to the fact that critical thinking about the "other" tends to articulate its relation to the other with the hegemonic vocabulary. This is similar to feminist writers which abide by the patriarchic rules for academic writing.
In the following parts of "Can the Subaltern Speak?" Spivak is criticizing different critical writers and then moves on to the example of the Indian "Sati" practice.
The people or the subaltern is a group defined by its difference from the elite.If in the context of colonial production , the subaltern female is even more deeply in shadow.
Spivak examines the position of Indian women through an analysis of a particular case and concludes with the declaration that the subaltern cannot speak.
Spivak target is the concept of an unproblematic ally constituted subaltern identity,Rather than the subaltern subject ability to give voice to political concerns.
# Representation of the Subalterns in Indian English Literature...
Novels: Anand’s "Untouchable" and Mistry’s "A Fine Balance".....
Among the Indian English writers, Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao and R. K. Narayan played a crucial role to bring India’s controversial inner issues in front of the world in the first half of the twentieth century. Those issues can be considered local issues of the Indian sub-continent but those have a universal appeal. We also observe that the other Indian writers from the present time have continued the trend of representing the struggle of the subalterns at various phases of life.
Among those writers of the present time, Arundhuti Roy, Amitav Ghosh, Kiran Desai and Rohinton Mistry are remarkable writers for their creative and in-depth perspectives.
Mulk Raj Anand’s "Untouchable" and Rohinton Mistry’s "A Fine Balance" concentrate on the miserable life of untouchable characters who try to
change their living condition by entering the centre from the periphery, but their attempt falls apart when it comes into conflict with reality. The portrayal of the subalterns in the two novels is
the crucial subject to be analyzed critically because of their authenticity to represent the
subalterns..
The most vital part of these two novels is their self-analytical approach. Both the stories are presented to readers from the subaltern perspective which is unacceptable to the society.
Although there is more than fifty years’ gap between the two novels, the essence of the stories echoes in both the novels. Anand’s "Untouchable" is published in 1935 and Mistry’s "A Fine Balance" is in 1996.
"Untouchable" focuses on Bakha, an eighteen years old sweeper in colonial
India.It also scrutinizes the depression of untouchables or lower class people and their rage against the upper caste. It gives a glimpse of a story of a day’s rural experience. The story displays the critical and tense relations among untouchable subalterns, upper caste Hindus,Muslims and Christian British colonizers.
On the Other hand, Mistry’s A Fine Balance (Mistry, 1996) looks at the curse of untouchability and poverty of the lower class village and city people in the colonial and Independent India. The novel shows several generations but Ishvar, Om
(Dagis), Dina and Maneck are the protagonists presenting different backgrounds with various
realities. Ishvar and Om come from the village to the city to find a job. They get a job in Dina’s house as tailors. Dina is a widow living in a rented house and earns her livelihood by delivering the readymade clothes to the shops. With Dina, Maneck lives as a paying guest. Maneck is a
college student. Her mother is Dina’s school friend. At the end of the novel, Maneck comes back to India from abroad and discovers the changes of the society, the shut down of Dina’s business
along with her, the rented house and the alteration of both Ishvar and Om into street beggars.
The story goes through various flashes-backs. It helps to denote the uncertain individual lives in turbulent India. It reflects the subalterns falling into the cyclic trap of poverty.
When the two novels are compared, it is visible that Untouchable (Anand, 2001) can be one of the stories of A Fine Balance (Mistry, 1996). Untouchable (Anand, 2001) revolutionizes the traditional portrayal of India and Indian literature by challenging India with a new vision of literature....
#Conclusion:-
Spivak's essay, "can Subaltern speak?" Challenges the idea of colonial "subject" and offers an example of the boundaries of the capability of western discourse,to interrelated with incongruent cultures.This essay is marked a paradigm shift in post-colonial studies..
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