File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_1996/96-08-26.043, message 120


Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 13:36:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: Satish K Kolluri <kolluri-AT-comm.umass.edu>
Subject: Re: Definition of subalterns


azfar

thanks for sharing my skepticism about the multiple meanings of the 
"subaltern."  yes, i would say that the subaltern is over-determined in 
the last instance by CLASS, even as CLASS and CULTURE are overdetermined 
by each other. the figure of the subaltern resonates very differently in 
other parts of the world due to the presence of viable leftist political 
cultures. to put it in a different way, the home minister of india, 
indrajit gupta, belongs to the communist party of india. the question is, 
is that even a remote possibility in this country? i do not want to 
belabour the point.
	to use your phrase, the subaltern becomes a high voltage metaphor and 
in the process is hijacked in different directions by different strains 
of thought. as a result of this, the figure of the subaltern circulates 
endlessly and repetitively in the ivory towers of the west, silenced 
forever by "texcentrics," if you will. consequently, "voice is no more," 
"identity is no more," "representation is no more." guess what a dalit 
activist of the Narmada Bachao Andolan or the naxalite movement in andhra 
pradesh would say?
"yeah right."

more later

satish
	


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