Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born February 24 1942) is an
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n literary critic and
theoristLiterary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for analyzing literature. However, literary scholarship since the 19th century often includes—in addition to, or even instead of literary theory in the strict sense—considerations of...
. She is best known for the article "Can the Subaltern Speak?", considered a founding text of
postcolonialismPostcolonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that holds together a set of theories found among the texts and sub-texts of philosophy, film, political science and literature...
, and for her translation of
Jacques Derrida'sJacques Derrida was a French philosopher born in Algeria, who is known as the founder of deconstruction. His voluminous work had a profound impact upon literary theory and continental philosophy...
Of GrammatologyDe la grammatologie is a book by French philosopher Jacques Derrida, first published in 1967 by Les Éditions de Minuit. Of Grammatology, the English translation by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, was first published in 1976 by Johns Hopkins University Press...
. Spivak teaches at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
, where she was tenured as
University ProfessorUniversity Professor is the highest academic rank at Columbia University.-University Professors:*Richard Axel, molecular biology and neuroscience*Jagdish Bhagwati, economics*Ronald Breslow, organic chemistry...
—Columbia's highest rank—in March 2007. A prolific scholar, she travels widely and gives lectures around the world. She is also a visiting faculty member at the
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, CalcuttaThe Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta is an autonomous research centre devoted to the research and advancement of the social sciences in South Asia...
.
Spivak was born Gayatri Chakravorty, in Calcutta,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, 24 February 1942.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born February 24 1942) is an
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n literary critic and
theoristLiterary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for analyzing literature. However, literary scholarship since the 19th century often includes—in addition to, or even instead of literary theory in the strict sense—considerations of...
. She is best known for the article "Can the Subaltern Speak?", considered a founding text of
postcolonialismPostcolonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that holds together a set of theories found among the texts and sub-texts of philosophy, film, political science and literature...
, and for her translation of
Jacques Derrida'sJacques Derrida was a French philosopher born in Algeria, who is known as the founder of deconstruction. His voluminous work had a profound impact upon literary theory and continental philosophy...
Of GrammatologyDe la grammatologie is a book by French philosopher Jacques Derrida, first published in 1967 by Les Éditions de Minuit. Of Grammatology, the English translation by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, was first published in 1976 by Johns Hopkins University Press...
. Spivak teaches at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
, where she was tenured as
University ProfessorUniversity Professor is the highest academic rank at Columbia University.-University Professors:*Richard Axel, molecular biology and neuroscience*Jagdish Bhagwati, economics*Ronald Breslow, organic chemistry...
—Columbia's highest rank—in March 2007. A prolific scholar, she travels widely and gives lectures around the world. She is also a visiting faculty member at the
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, CalcuttaThe Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta is an autonomous research centre devoted to the research and advancement of the social sciences in South Asia...
.
Life and Work
Spivak was born Gayatri Chakravorty, in Calcutta,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, 24 February 1942. She received an undergraduate degree in English at the
University of CalcuttaFormally established on the 24 January 1857, the University of Calcutta , , situated in the city of Kolkata , India, is the first modern university in the Indian subcontinent. It is a state-government administered urban-based affiliating and research university...
(1959), graduating with first class honours. After this, she completed her Master's in English from
Cornell UniversityCornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA, that is a member of the Ivy League.Cornell counts more than 255,000 living alumni, 28 Rhodes Scholars and 41 Nobel laureates affiliated with the university as faculty or students...
, and then pursued her
Ph.D.Ph.D. or PHD may stand for:* Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group* Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip* PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian organization...
while teaching at the
University of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public research university located in Iowa City, Iowa. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
. Her dissertation was on
W.B. YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
, directed by
Paul de ManPaul de Man was a Belgian-born deconstructionist literary critic and theorist.He completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in the late 1950s...
, titled
Myself Must I Remake: The Life and Poetry of W.B. Yeats. At Cornell, she was the second woman elected to membership in the
Telluride AssociationThe Telluride Association is a non-profit organization in the United States that provides young people with free educational programs emphasizing intellectual curiosity, democratic self-governance, and social responsibility. Students are invited to apply based on academic criteria, such as high...
. She was briefly married to Talbot Spivak in the 1960s.
The Bride Wore the Traditional Gold by Talbot Spivak is an autobiographical novel that deals with the early years of this marriage.
It was her subsequent translation of Derrida's
Of GrammatologyDe la grammatologie is a book by French philosopher Jacques Derrida, first published in 1967 by Les Éditions de Minuit. Of Grammatology, the English translation by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, was first published in 1976 by Johns Hopkins University Press...
that brought her to prominence. She included a translator's introduction which has since been described as "setting a new standard for self-reflexivity in prefaces." After this, she carried out a series of historical studies (as a member of the "Subaltern Studies Collective") and literary critiques of imperialism and international feminism. She has often referred to herself as a "Practical Marxist-feminist-deconstructionist,". Her overriding ethico-political concern has been the tendency of institutional and cultural discourses/practices to exclude and marginalize the subaltern, especially subaltern women.
Edward SaidEdward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian American literary theorist, cultural critic, and an advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
has noted that "She pioneered the study in literary theory of non-Western women and produced one of the earliest and most coherent accounts of that role available to us."
Her recent work,
A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, published in
1999The year 1999 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized...
, explores how major works of European
metaphysicsMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
(e.g., Kant, Hegel) not only tend to exclude the subaltern from their discussions, but actively prevent non-Europeans from occupying positions as fully human subjects.
Spivak coined the term "
strategic essentialismStrategic essentialism is a major concept in postcolonial theory. The term was coined by the Indian literary critic and theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. It refers to a strategy that nationalities, ethnic groups or minority groups can use to present themselves...
," which refers to a sort of temporary solidarity for the purpose of social action. For example, the attitude that women's groups have many different agendas makes it difficult for feminists to work for common causes. "Strategic essentialism" is about the need to accept temporarily an "essentialist" position in order to be able to act.
Spivak had taught at several universities before arriving at Columbia in 1991. She has been a Guggenheim fellow, received numerous academic honors including an honorary doctorate from
Oberlin CollegeOberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1833 by Presbyterian ministers, and is home to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, making it the only top-ranked liberal arts college with a top-ranked conservatory...
, and has been on the editorial board of academic journals such as
boundary 2boundary 2 is an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies, critical theory, and literary criticism. In the 1970s and 1980s it was one of the primary venues for poststructuralist literary theory in the United States. It is edited primarily at the University of Pittsburgh and published by...
. On March 9, 2007, Columbia University President
Lee BollingerLee C. Bollinger is an American lawyer and educator who is currently serving as the 19th president of Columbia University. Formerly the president of the University of Michigan, he is a noted legal scholar of the First Amendment and freedom of speech...
appointed Spivak University Professor, the institution's highest faculty rank. In a letter to the faculty, he wrote,
Spivak's writing has been described by some as opaque. It has also been suggested that her work puts style ahead of substance.
In her defense, it has been argued that this sort of criticism reveals an unwillingness to substantively engage with her texts.
Judith ButlerJudith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is the Maxine Elliott professor in the Departments of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.Butler...
has noted that Spivak's supposedly inaccessible language has, in fact, resonated with, and profoundly changed the thinking of, "tens of thousands of activists and scholars." , And Marxist literary critic
Terry EagletonTerence Francis Eagleton is a British literary theorist, regarded by some as Britain's most influential living literary critic...
, who has called her writing "inaccessible," noted nevertheless that "there can thus be few more important critics of our age than the likes of Spivak.... She has probably done more long-term political good, in pioneering feminist and post-colonial studies within global academia than almost any of her theoretical colleagues."
In speeches given and published since 2002, Spivak has addressed the issue of terrorism. Clearly stating that her intention is to bring an end to suicide bombing, she has explored and, "tried to imagine what message [such acts] might contain." . These ruminations have included descriptions such as: "suicide bombing is an act inscribed on the body when no other means will get through."
One critic has suggested that this sort of stylized language may serve to blur important moral issues relating to terrorism. However, she stated in the text of the speech that "Single coerced yet willed suicidal 'terror' is in excess of the destruction of dynastic temples and the violation of women, tenacious and powerfully residual. It has not the banality of evil. It is informed by the stupidity of belief taken to extreme."
Philanthropy
Spivak founded The Pares Chandra and Sivani Chakravorty Memorial Education Project, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization, in 1997, to provide a primary education of quality for children in some of the poorest regions of the globe, continuing work that Spivak had started doing in 1986. The Project currently operates schools in rural areas of West Bengal, India. By setting up schools and giving sustained training to local teachers who operate them with the help of local supervisors, the Project seeks to offer children in these areas the resources to enter the mainstream education system for high school and beyond. The Project is committed to using the existing state curriculum and textbooks to train teachers, in the belief that by using these materials they can better enable their students to enter the national education system on equal terms with others. "Since India constantly brags about being the world's largest democracy, and this is a large sector of the electorate, what I'm trying to do is develop rituals of democratic habits," she said of the Project.
Academic
- Myself, I Must Remake: The Life and Poetry of W.B. Yeats (1974).
- Of Grammatology (translation, with critical introduction, of Derrida's text) (1976)
- In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (1987).
- Selected Subaltern Studies (edited with Ranajit Guha) (1988)
- The Post-Colonial Critic (1990)
- Outside in the Teaching Machine (1993).
- The Spivak Reader (1995).
- A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Towards a History of the Vanishing Present (1999).
- Death of a Discipline (2003).
- Other Asias (2005).
Literary
- Imaginary Maps (translation with critical introduction of three stories by Mahasweta Devi
Mahasweta Devi is an Indian social activist and writer. Her only son Nabarun Bhattacharya is also a renowned author in his own right.- Biography :...
) (1994)
- Breast Stories (translation with critical introduction of three stories by Mahasweta Devi
Mahasweta Devi is an Indian social activist and writer. Her only son Nabarun Bhattacharya is also a renowned author in his own right.- Biography :...
) (1997)
- Old Women (translation with critical introduction of two stories by Mahasweta Devi
Mahasweta Devi is an Indian social activist and writer. Her only son Nabarun Bhattacharya is also a renowned author in his own right.- Biography :...
) (1999)
- Song for Kali: A Cycle (translation with introduction of story by Ramproshad Sen) (2000)
- Chotti Munda and His Arrow (translation with critical introduction of the novel by Mahasweta Devi
Mahasweta Devi is an Indian social activist and writer. Her only son Nabarun Bhattacharya is also a renowned author in his own right.- Biography :...
) (2002)
- Red Thread (forthcoming)
External links