Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Who is Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak?

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is an Indian literary theorist, philosopher and University Professor at Columbia University, where she is a founding member of the school's Institute for Comparative Literature and Society. She is best known for the essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?" considered a founding text of postcolonialism; and for her translation of, and introduction to Jacques Derrida's De la grammatologie. In 2012 she was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy for being "a critical theorist and educator speaking for the humanities against intellectual colonialism in relation to the globalized world". She received the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award given by the Republic of India, in 2013.

Spivak is best known for her contemporary cultural and critical theories to challenge the "legacy of colonialism" and the way readers engage with literature and culture. She often focuses on the cultural texts of those who are marginalized by dominant western culture: the new immigrant, the working class, women, and other positions of the subaltern.