Spivak, Gayatri C.
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Spivak, Gayatri C. (February 24, 1942 -)
An Indian literary theorist and philosopher, well known for her essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, considered to be one of the first postcolonialist texts. In the essay, Spivak discusses the banning of the practice of sati (self-immolation by a woman on her husband’s funeral pyre) and the power dynamics behind this: she argues that the notion that sati is an oppressive act is solely the viewpoint of hegemonic British colonizers, and is an unbalanced observation as we never hear the opinion of the actual women performing sati. Spivak is currently the University Professor for English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, the first woman of color to hold this role.
