Questioning Subalternity: Between Colonizer and Colonized in Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak?”

Monika Sharma; Poonam Rani

doi:10.25212/lfu.qzj.5.2.34

Authors

Monika Sharma Department of English, College of Education and Languages, Lebanese French University, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Poonam Rani Department of English, H.V.M (P.G) College (Govt. Aided), Raisi, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25212/lfu.qzj.5.2.34

Keywords:

Empowerment, subaltern, traditions, sacrifice, colonialism.

Abstract

In India the practice of sati was very common and many women who became part of the rituals did it out of their love for their husbands. The society has played a major role in making sati a common phenomenon in the country so as to deny separate existence from men. The essay vindicates the apprehension of women in India who practice the widow sacrifice known as ‘Sati’ The practice of sati in the pre independent India was considered as a part of a barbaric culture by the Western world. Gyatri Chakrovorty Spivak has become an authoritative voice of the post-colonial period and through her cultural and critical theories tried to challenge the legacy of colonialism. India is a land of varieties and vitalities that is divided into different states in the name of class, religion, language, authenticity, gender and citizenship. In this scattered outlook the condition of the subaltern is all the most pathetic. She came to the forefront of the literary circle with her celebrated essay “Can the Subaltern Speak”. Her critical discourse raises the issues of marginal subjects such as the place of the subaltern women in the society and their empowerment.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

. Chauhan, Abha. (1990). Tribal Women and Social Change in India, New Delhi, Aditya Publishers.

. Chrisman, Patrick and Laura. (1993). Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader. Published by Columbia University Press. New York.

. Edward, W. Said. (February 16, 1984). Permission to Narrate, London Review of Books.

. Hardiman. (February 15, 1986). Subaltern Studies, at crossroads, Economics and Political Weekly, Vol. 21, Issue No.7.

. Mani, Lata. (1998). Contentious Traditions: The Debate on Sati in Colonial India: London University of Michigan Press.

. Ranjeet, Guha. (1987). Subaltern Studies Vol. 4, Writings on South Asian History and Society, Oxford University Press.

. Rajan, Rajeshwari Sunder. (2010). Death and the Subaltern. Can the Subaltern Speak? Reflections on the history of an Idea. Columbia University Press.

. Said, Edward. (1993). Cultural and Imperialism. London: Chatto and Windus.

. Said, W. Edward. (1994). Cultural and Imperialism. Vintage Books, New York.

.Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. (1994). Can the Subaltern Speak? Ed Williams.

.Spivak, Gyatri Chakravorty. (1987). A Literary Representation of the Subaltern, A Woman’s Text from the Third World; York: Methuen.

.Spivak, Gyatri Chakrovorty. (1893). Death of a Discipline, Columbia University Press.