Новинки Гайятри Чакраворти Спивак

В своем эссе американский философ Гаятри Спивак развивает понятие «субалтерн», которое в 1930-х годах ввел в лексикон своих заметок итальянский философ-марксист Антонио Грамши. Грамши использовал его в качестве альтернативы термину «трудящиеся», или «рабочий класс», чтобы описать подчиненное и угнетенное положение соответствующей социальной группы в капиталистической системе. Продолжая его мысль, Спивак подчеркивает, что «субалтерны» не только находятся в позиции угнетенных, но и лишены возможности заявлять о своих интересах и быть видимыми. Спивак рассматривает постколониальный контекст, в том числе через феминистскую оптику. В четвертой части эссе она исследует сати – ритуал самосожжения вдов в Индии, отмененный британцами в 1829 году. Она отмечает, что отмена ритуала воспринималась как ситуация, в которой «белые мужчины защищают смуглых женщин от смуглых мужчин», в то время как индийские «смуглые мужчины» защищают национальную традицию, утверждая, что «женщины на самом деле хотят умереть». На этом примере исследовательница показывает механизмы двойного смещения, при котором за угнетенную женщину одновременно говорят и колонизаторы, и соплеменники. Помимо этого, Спивак затрагивает широкий спектр тем: от попыток западных интеллектуалов проблематизировать субъекта на примере беседы Мишеля Фуко и Жиля Делеза до вопроса о том, как субъект третьего мира представлен в западном дискурсе. Спивак также анализирует тексты индийских историков из группы «исследований угнетенных», одним из основателей которой был Ранаджит Гуха. Гаятри Чакраворти Спивак — американский философ индийского происхождения, основоположница постколониальных исследований, профессор и соучредитель Института сравнительного литературоведения и обществоведения Колумбийского университета.

Written in 1980, this novel by prize-winning Indian writer Mahasweta Devi, translated and introduced by Gayatri Chakravorty Sprivak, is remarkable for the way in which it touches on vital issues that have in subsequent decades grown into matters of urgent social conern. Written by one of India’s foremost novelists, and translated by an eminent cultural and critical theorist. Ranges over decades in the life of Chotti – the central character – in which India moves from colonial rule to independence, and then to the unrest of the 1970s. Traces the changes, some forced, some welcome, in the daily lives of a marginalized rural community. Raises questions about the place of the tribal on the map of national identity, land rights and human rights, the ‘museumization’ of ‘ethnic’ cultures, and the justifications of violent resistance as the last resort of a desperate people. Represents enlightening reading for students and scholars of postcolonial literature and postcolonial studies.

Spivaks Aufsatz 'Can the Subaltern Speak?', bislang noch nie vollständig ins Deutsche übersetzt, zählt zu den Schlüsseltexten der postkolonialen Theorie.
Anküpfend an die Arbeit der indischen Subaltern-Studies-Gruppe sowie in kritischer Auseinandersetzung mit poststrukturalistischen Theoriebildungen widmet er sich zentral der Frage von Unmöglichkeit und Möglichkeit eines Sprechens der Subalternen.
Der vorliegende Band enthält neben einer Übersetzung der Originalfassung von Spivaks Aufsatz ein Interview mit der Autorin zur Diskussionsgeschichte, eine Nachbemerkung zur 1999 veröffentlichten zweiten Version des Textes sowie eine Einleitung von Hito Steyerl.

?I had but that one arrow’, says Chotti Munda, the hero of this epic tale. A ?magic? arrow that stood for the pride, the wisdom, the culture of their society, a society threatened with inevitable disintegration as its traditional structures crumbled under the assault of ?national development?.

The wide sweep of this important novel encompasses many layers. It ranges over decades in the life of Chotti – the central character – in which India moves from colonial rule to independence and then to the unrest of the 1970s. It probes and uncovers the complex web of social and economic exchange based on power relations. It traces the changes, some forced, some welcome, in the daily lives of a marginalized rural community. And at its core, it celebrates Chotti, legendary archer, wise and farsighted leader, proud role model to his younger brethren.
Written in 1980, this novel is remarkable for the manner in which it touches on vital issues that have, in subsequent decades, grown into matters of urgent social concern. It raises questions about the place of the tribal on the map of national identity, land rights and human rights, the ?museumization? of ?ethnic? cultures, and the justifications of violent resistance as the last resort of a desperate people.

Are the culture wars over? When did they begin? What is their relationship to gender struggle and the dynamics of class? In her first full treatment of postcolonial studies, a field that she helped define, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, one of the world's foremost literary theorists, poses these questions from within the postcolonial enclave.

We cannot merely continue to act out the part of Caliban, Spivak writes; and her book is an attempt to understand and describe a more responsible role for the postcolonial critic. A Critique of Postcolonial Reason tracks the figure of the native informant through various cultural practices--philosophy, history, literature--to suggest that it emerges as the metropolitan hybrid. The book addresses feminists, philosophers, critics, and interventionist intellectuals, as they unite and divide. It ranges from Kant's analytic of the sublime to child labor in Bangladesh. Throughout, the notion of a Third World interloper as the pure victim of a colonialist oppressor emerges as sharply suspect: the mud we sling at certain seemingly overbearing ancestors such as Marx and Kant may be the very ground we stand on.

A major critical work, Spivak's book redefines and repositions the postcolonial critic, leading her through transnational cultural studies into considerations of globality.

A Critique of Postcolonial Reason – Toward a History of the Vanishing Present (Paper) (OIP)

A Critique of Postcolonial Reason – Toward a History of the Vanishing Present (OIP)

Among the foremost feminist critics to have emerged to international eminence over the last fifteen years, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has relentlessly challenged the high ground of established theoretical discourse in literary and cultural studies. Although her rigorous reading of various authors has often rendered her work difficult terrain for those unfamiliar with poststructuralism, this collection makes significant strides in explicating Spivak's complicated theories of reading.

Gayatri Spivak, one of our best known cultural and literary theorists, addresses a vast range of political questions with both pen and voice in this unique book. The Post-Colonial Critic brings together a selection of interviews and discussions in which she has taken part over the past five years; together they articulate some of the most compelling politico-theoretical issues of the present.
In these lively texts, students of Spivak's work will identify her unmistakeable voice as she speaks on questions of representation and self-representation, the politicization of deconstruction; the situations of post-colonial critics; pedagogical responsibility; and political strategies.