Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak?

Jade Munslow Ong (University of Salford)

Domains

Political Philosophy

Dates

First circulation or publication 1988

Places

India, West Bengal (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Commentary / Criticism (literary)
Essays/ Lectures (any)

Resources

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Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?” is one of the key theoretical texts in the field of postcolonial studies, by one of its most famous figures. It was first published in the journal

Wedge

in 1985, as “Can the Subaltern Speak?: Speculations on Widow Sacrifice”; reprinted in 1988 as “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in Cary Nelson and Larry Grossberg’s edited collection

, Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture

; and revised by Spivak as part of her “History” chapter in

A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present,

published in 1999. It has also appeared in essay collections of and on Spivak’s work, and in postcolonial studies readers. This summary is based on the slightly abbreviated version that appears in Patrick…

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2837 words

Citation: Munslow Ong, Jade. "Can the Subaltern Speak?". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 January 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19945, accessed 25 November 2024.]