The complexity of Spivak’s project: a Marxist interpretation
ISSN: 1443-9883
Article publication date: 14 February 2018
Issue publication date: 10 May 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to engage some of the central themes of Gayatri Spivak’s seminal essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak? (CSS)” In particular, her criticisms of post-structuralism’s treatment of the “subject” as well as its privileging of “discourse” and micrological analyses of power vis-à-vis her discussion of Foucault and Deleuze.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper also draws on a historical materialist approach to examine how Spivak’s own work often reinscribes the discursive and politically pusillanimous tendencies of both post-structuralist and post-colonialist thought.
Findings
This lends itself to the “complexification” of capitalism – a bourgeois form of mystification of capital’s essential workings and the underlying class structure of the globalized economy, inclusive of “postcolonial” societies.
Originality/value
The authors conclude that CSS – while an important question – is ultimately a misdirected one that, in effect, mistakes discursive empowerment for social and economic enablement.
Keywords
Citation
Scatamburlo-D’Annibale, V., McLaren, P. and Monzó, L. (2018), "The complexity of Spivak’s project: a Marxist interpretation", Qualitative Research Journal, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 144-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-D-17-00052
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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