Spivak Flashcards
How is identity constructed
Not by us; our subjectivity is constructed by the shifting discourses of power that situate us in particular positions. Very little we can do to change this? Poststructuralist view
Rejects Foucault and Deleuze
Spinal says even if given the chance, the oppressed cannot speak and know their conditions
The problem of who has permission to narrate
Intellectual casts self as reliable mediator for voices of the oppressed: continues to assign role; repeats violence of colonialism. Will necessarily misrepresent as cannot be represented using dominant discourse
Subaltern Studies group
Aims to rethink Indian colonial historiography as development to redress balance in national consciousness that focused almost exclusively on the elite
Essentialism
Assumption that all subaltern have same unchanging nature; notion romanticised; in reality these people are heterogeneous and denying their variety only replicates the colonialist discourses they purport to critique
Attempts from the outside to ameliorate conditions of the subaltern will only lead to:
a) a logocentric assumption of cultural solidity among a heterogeneous people (some things cannot be defined in language of hegemonic discourse)
b) a dependence on western intellectuals to speak for the subaltern condition. Divests them of any power. SAID
We must instead (Freud):
Explore dynamics of unfolding human relationships without foreclosing narratives by assigning determinate roles
Relationships are fluid; we must avoid the dangers of interpreting and misrepresenting the Other
In the context of cultural production:
The subaltern has no history and cannot speak. Has no way of representing self in dominant discourse
In the future:
Must establish line of communication between members of subaltern groups and circuits of institutionality. “Long road to hegemony”. Said - must have opportunity to represent themselves.
