A reading of Gayathri Chakravorty Spivak's postcolonial discourse through her essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?"

Abstract

Through a meticulous reading of postcolonial theorist Gayatri Spivak's seminal essay, "Can the Subaltern Speak?", this study aims to focus on the key ideas, philosophical concepts, and historical experiences that underpinned colonial discourse. By employing a Derridean deconstructive methodology, this research seeks to interrogate colonial history and undermine its ideological and exclusionary underpinnings of the subaltern. This approach allows for a re-reading and critique of British colonial history, deconstructing its discourses. Ultimately, this study seeks to answer the problematic question: Were the colonized
peoples, who were denied the right to speak, able to represent themselves? The findings reveal that the voice of the subaltern was instead represented through the voices of elite intellectuals who, in turn, colluded with colonial discourse to serve their own interests.