Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born February 24, 1942) is an Indian literary critic and theorist. She is best known for the article "Can the Subaltern Speak?", considered a founding text of postcolonialism, and for her translation of Jacques Derrida's Of Grammatology. Spivak teaches at Columbia University, where she was promoted to University Professor—Columbia's highest rank—in March 2007. A prolific scholar, she travels widely and gives lectures around the world. She is also a visiting faculty at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ... Literary theory is the theory (or the philosophy) of the interpretation of literature and literary criticism. ... The term subaltern is used in postcolonial theory to refer to marginalized groups and the lower classes; this sense of the word was coined by Antonio Gramsci. ... Post-colonialism refers to the intellectual field opened up by Edward Saids book Orientalism. ... Jacques Derrida (July 15, 1930 – October 8, 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher, known as the founder of deconstruction. ... De la grammatologie is a book by French philosopher Jacques Derrida, first published in 1967 by Les Éditions de Minuit. ... Columbia University is a private research university in the United States and a member of the prestigious Ivy League. ... University Professor is the highest academic rank at Columbia University. ... The Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, was founded in February 1973, as an independent research centre devoted to the advancement of the social sciences in south Asia. ...

Work

Spivak was born Gayatri Chakravorty, in Calcutta, India, 24 February 1942, to a middle class family. She received an undergraduate degree in English at the University of Calcutta (1959), graduating with first class honours. After this, she completed her Master's in English from Cornell University, and then pursued her Ph.D. while teaching at University of Iowa. Her dissertation was on W.B. Yeats, directed by Paul de Man, titled Myself Must I Remake: The Life and Poetry of W.B. Yeats. At Cornell, she was the second woman elected to membership in the Telluride Association. She was briefly married to Talbot Spivak in the 1960s. The Bride Wore the Traditional Gold by Talbot Spivak is an autobiographical novel that deals with the early years of this marriage. This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Formally established on the 24 January 1857, the University of Calcutta (also known as Calcutta University) (Bengali: কলকাতা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়), located in the city of Kolkata (previously Calcutta), India, is the first modern university in the Indian subcontinent. ... Cornell University is a university located in Ithaca, New York, USA. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar. ... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... The University of Iowa, also commonly called Iowa or U of I, is a major national research university located on a 1,900-acre campus in Iowa City, Iowa, USA, on the banks of the Iowa River in East Central Iowa. ... William Butler Yeats, 1933 photograph, author unknown. ... Paul de Man (December 6, 1919 – December 21, 1983) was a Belgian-born deconstructionist literary critic and theorist. ... The Telluride Association is a non-profit organization in the United States that provides young people with free educational programs emphasizing intellectual curiosity, democratic self-governance, and social responsibility. ...

It was her subsequent translation of Derrida's Of Grammatology that brought her to prominence, after which she carried out a series of historical studies (as a member of the "Subaltern Studies Collective") and literary critiques of imperialism and international feminism. She has often referred to herself as a "Practical Marxist-feminist-deconstructionist," seeing each of these fields as necessary but insufficient by themselves, yet productive together. Her overriding ethico-political concern has been the tendency of institutional and cultural discourses/practices to exclude and marginalize the subaltern, especially subaltern women. The term subaltern is used in postcolonial theory to refer to marginalized groups and the lower classes; this sense of the word was coined by Antonio Gramsci. ...

Her recent work, A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, published in 1999, explores how major works of European metaphysics (e.g., Kant, Hegel) not only tend to exclude the subaltern from their discussions, but actively prevent non-Europeans from occupying positions as fully human subjects. See also: 1998 in literature, other events of 1999, 2000 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ...

Spivak coined the term "strategic essentialism," which refers to a sort of temporary solidarity for the purpose of social action. For example, the attitude that women's groups have many different agendas makes it difficult for feminists to work for common causes. "Strategic essentialism" is about the need to accept temporarily an "essentialist" position in order to be able to act. Strategic essentialism is a major concept in postcolonial theory. ...

On March 9, 2007, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger appointed Spivak University Professor, the institution's highest faculty rank. In a letter to the faculty, he wrote, Lee C. Bollinger is an American lawyer, educator and is currently serving as the 19th president of Columbia University. ...

Activism

Spivak founded The Pares Chandra and Sivani Chakravorty Memorial Literacy Project, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization, in 1997, to provide a primary education of quality for children in some of the poorest regions of the globe. The Project currently operates schools in rural areas of West Bengal, India. By setting up schools and giving sustained training to local teachers who operate them with the help of local supervisors, the Project seeks to offer children in these areas the resources to enter the mainstream education system for high school and beyond. The Project is committed to using the existing state curriculum and textbooks to train teachers, in the belief that by using these materials they can better enable their students to enter the national education system on equal terms with others.

Books

Academic

• Myself, I Must Remake: The Life and Poetry of W.B. Yeats (1974).
• Of Grammatology (translation, with critical introduction, of Derrida's text) (1976)
• In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (1987).
• Selected Subaltern Studies (edited with Ranajit Guha) (1988)
• The Post-Colonial Critic (1990)
• Outside in the Teaching Machine (1993).
• The Spivak Reader (1995).
• A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Towards a History of the Vanishing Present (1999).
• Death of a Discipline (2003).
• Other Asias (2007).

A blonde haired, very skilled worker with a 70s look. ... Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

Literary

• Imaginary Maps (translation with critical introduction of three stories by Mahasweta Devi) (1994)
• Breast Stories (translation with critical introduction of three stories by Mahasweta Devi) (1997)
• Old Women (translation with critical introduction of two stories by Mahasweta Devi) (1999)
• Song for Kali: A Cycle (translation with introduction of story by Ramproshad Sen) (2000)
• Chotti Munda and His Arrow (translation with critical introduction of the novel by Mahasweta Devi) (2002)
• Red Thread (forthcoming)

Mahasweta Devi (born 1926 in Dacca now known as Bangladesh) is an Indian writer. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... Mahasweta Devi (born 1926 in Dacca now known as Bangladesh) is an Indian writer. ... Year 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar). ... Mahasweta Devi (born 1926 in Dacca now known as Bangladesh) is an Indian writer. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mahasweta Devi (born 1926 in Dacca now known as Bangladesh) is an Indian writer. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ...

See also

• List of deconstructionists
• Postcolonialism
• Postcolonial feminism

This is a list of notable thinkers that have been influenced by deconstruction. ... Post-colonialism refers to the intellectual field opened up by Edward Saids book Orientalism. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

External links

• 'Woman' as Theatre in Radical Philosophy
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak - An Overview
• Summary of Spivak's article "Can the Subaltern Speak?"
• "In the Gaudy Supermarket" - A critical review of A Critique of Post-Colonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present by Terry Eagleton in the London Review of Books, May 1999
• "Exacting Solidarities" - Letters responding to Eagleton's review of Spivak by Judith Butler and others
• Glossary of Key Terms in the Work of Spivak