Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is a highly notable and critical and feminist thinker. She is best known for her works in the field of Post-Colonialism, Subaltern Studies, Feminism and Critical Theory.
Overview of Spivak’s Theory
Spivak criticizes the
negative image of colonized cultures portrayed by colonialists. She questions
the functioning of colonial rule as well as rule over the underprivileged in
general while seeking ways to overcome
it. A well-known quote by her is one arguing that western scholars must
“unlearn their learning” which means “to unlearn their privilege as loss”.
According to Spivak, the system of privileges can be overcome by critically
questioning one's own positions, beliefs and prejudices. On the other hand, it
defends forms of identity politics, which the underprivileged consider
indispensable for asserting their interests. For them, this “strategic
essentialism ” represents a politically motivated insistence on group-specific,
“essential” traits that is linked to insight into the constructional character
of cultural idiosyncrasies.
Like Homi K. Bhabha and
Edward Said, and other notable post-colonialist thinkers Spivak does not conceive of the “post-” as an “end” of
colonialism, but emphasizes its ongoing influence on contemporary identities
and realities. Colonialism is not a thing of the past but rather a legacy which continues to shape our future. Although a proponent of the deconstructivist approach, which
characterizes identities as constructed, Spivak sees the need for
"strategic essentialism ". She stresses that it is politically
necessary to think into identities - even if only temporarily and from a
strategic point of view - in order to expose these identities as necessarily
false.