Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is an Indian literary theorist and feminist critic, born in 1942, who is a professor at Columbia University and a founding member of its Institute for Comparative Literature and Society. Considered one of the most influential postcolonial intellectuals, she is best known for her essay Can the Subaltern Speak? and for her translation of and introduction to Jacques Derrida's De la grammatologie, and she has also translated the work of the Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi into English. She received the 2012 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy, India's 2013 Padma Bhushan, and the 2025 Holberg Prize. Although often associated with postcolonialism, she stated her own separation from the discipline in her 1999 book A Critique of Postcolonial Reason.
Facts
Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own account Nationality / CultureSourced to the subject's own account Defining ContributionSourced to the subject's own accountA major postcolonial theorist, known for the essay Can the Subaltern Speak? and for her translation of, and critical introduction to, Jacques Derrida's Of Grammatology. 1 Notable WorkSourced to the subject's own accountA Critique of Postcolonial Reason (1999) 1 Connections
Associated With
Spivak postcolonial theory, notably Can the Subaltern Speak, examined how the epistemic structures of empire silence the colonized even in accounts meant to represent them.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: India, nationality there.
Sources
1. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Wikipedia)
Wikipedialead section
24 February 1942
- lead section and Works section: contribution
- Works section
lead section: birth date
24 February 1942
lead section: origin
Calcutta, India, into a Bengali Brahmin family
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.