Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Feminism Theory

Overview an Indian literary theorist, philosopher and University Professor at Columbia University. Considers herself to be a “practical Marxist-feminist-deconstructionist” best known for the essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?" considered a founding text of post colonialism. awarded the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy known for her contemporary cultural and critical theories to challenge the "legacy of colonialism"

Life and Education Born Gayatri Chakravorty in Calcutta, India Parents are Pares Chandra and Sivani Chakravorty. Primary education received from St. John’ Diocesan Girls’ Higher Secondary School. Received her B.A in English with first class honors from Presidency College under the University of Calcutta Received her M.A. in English from Cornell University. Pursued her PhD in comparative literature while teaching at the University of Iowa. Became the first woman of color to receive the Columbia University’s highest teaching honor in its 264 year history.

“Can The Subaltern Speak?  Spivak discusses the race and power dynamics involved in the banning of sati Sati=  a funeral practice within some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman immolates herself, typically on her husband’s funeral pyre. Only British colonizers accounts, but not the actual immolators. Raises the question of whether the subaltern can speak.