Gayater Chakrav Mavsisia Y Galhoe Spivak si tue lakepetaboy Eds. (avy Nelsovy ak ds. (oey Nel Le Wevana ene Grossbery WU Thaes P14 Can the Subaltern Speak? The orginal tite of this paper was “Power, Dest, ‘Interest Indeed, whatever power these meditations command may ave ‘been earned by apolitical intersted refusal to push tothe imi the found- The presuppontions of my desires as far a they are within my grasp. This ‘lga thrce stoke formula, appied both tothe most resolutely commited nd toe most ronie discouree, keeps track of what Althuser so aptly famed “pulosophies of denezation.= 1 have iavoked my positional in ‘Bis awhrard way soos to aetentuate the fat that cling te place of the Javestigator into question remains a meaningles piety in many reenter tigues the sovereign subject. Thus athough Iwill tempt to forearound theses my poston toughest, kro sich gars cn “This paper will move, bya necessarily circuitous route, fiom a etiqe of current Western ells foprobiomatize the subject othe flustion of how the third-world sublec is epresented within Western di ‘use. Along the way, I wll have occasion to suggest that sill more fauleal desenterig of the subject is in ac, impli in both Marc and ‘Derrida, And I wl have recourse, perhaps surprisingly, to an argument that ‘Wiecm mlclecual production ix im many ways, complet with Westen Intemational economic interest, [athe end, [wil ofr an alternative aal- Jub ofthe relations between the discourses ofthe West and the possibility 2fpeaking of (or fo) the subaltern woman. wil draw my specifi examples ffom the case of Inch, discussing at legth the extaordimanly paradoxical Satus of te British abolition of widow sacrifice. Some of the mos radial eticsm coming out ofthe ‘West today isthe rest ofan interested desir to conserve the subject of the West or the West ae Subject. The teory of plralized "subjects" {ves an iusion of undermining subjective sovereignty while often provi Fig. cover for this subject of knowedge. Although the history of Europe fs Subject i narratviaed by the law, political economy, and ideology of he ‘eat this concealed Subjet pretends it has "no geopolitical determine antions" The much-publicized crtique ofthe sovereign subject thus actually [ngugurates& Subject I wil argue for this conclsion by considering a fxt by two great practioner of the critique “Intellecauals and Power: A Con verstion between Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze" have chosen this fendly exchange between two activist phi- losophers of history because t undoes the opposition between autontative ‘theoretical production and the unguarded practice of conversation, engbling fone fo gmpse the tack of ideology. The parcipants inthis conversion emphasize the mostimportan contributions af French posstructraist the- ‘frst that the networks of power/dsie/iateret are so heterogeneous {hat their reduction to @ coherent narative is couterproductiversapet= sistent extigue is needed and second, that incectuals must attempt 10 disclose and know the discourse of socie’s Other et Use two systema fealy ignore the question of ideology and their own implication tm inte- lectal and economic history. Although one of is chief presuppositions isthe erique of the sovereign subject the conversation between Foveault and Deleuze famed ‘bs two monolithic and anonymous subjstinrevaitions "A Maoist" (FD. 203) and “the workers strugle" (FD, 217) Iaallactuas, however ae named and difeentited, moreover, & Chinese Maoism is nowbere operative Maoism here simply erates an aura of narrative specie, which would ‘bea harmless setrial banality wert not that the sanocet ppapsation fof the proper name “Maoism™ for the eccentric phenomenot of Pench ingellctul “Maoism” and subsequent "New Philosophy” symptomaticlly renders “Asia” transparent Deleuze's reference to the workers" struggle is equally proble- ‘mati; tis obviously 2 genullection: “We are unable to touch [power] in {any point of is application without nding ourscives confronted by this Sia mas, so that we are necessary led othe die to Blow ft up completely. Every prt revolutionary atack or defense is Linkedin this way to the worker struggle (FD, 217), The apparent banality signals 3 istvowal. The statement gnores the international division of labor, 4s ture tat oflen maris postsrucuralist politica theory” The invocation of the worker’ strgale s baleful i is very innocence tis incapable of dealing th global capitalism: the subject production of worker ad unemployed ‘within nation-state ideologies ints Contr the increasing subiration of he ‘working clas in the Periphery from the ‘alization of ump value and ‘thus from humanistic" taining in consumerism and the large-scale pres {ence of aracaptalis labor a5 well sth heteroasneous structural sats of agriculture in the Periphery. Ignoring the international division of labor, ‘endering "Asia and on occasion “afia”) transparent (Unless te subject ‘soxtensbly the Third World: ceesablishing the epl subject of socialized captal—thes are problems as common to much oststructalist a to stra {nralist theory. Why should such occlusions be sanctioned in preciey those intellectuals who are our best prophets af hetrogenalty snd the Other The lnk to the workers srugle is leated inthe desire 1 blow up power at any point ofits appicetion. This site apparently Based on & simple valorization of any desire desrvsive of any power, Walter Benjamin amments on Baudsarés comparable pics by way of quotations fom m ayatt Chekravorty Spivak. ‘Marx continues in his description ofthe conspiratere de profsion as follows" They have na other sin but the immediate one of overciowing the existing government, and they profoundly despise the more theoretical enlightenment ofthe workers as t ther lass interests. Thus thee anger—not prletanan but plebian~at the habs ars (lack caus), the more oF Tess educated people who represet [verte tat side ofthe movement and af whom they can never become fntely independent, a they cannot ofthe oll tp Fesemtatives [Reprascmanten) of the party.” Baade Tnire's political insights do nat zo fandamentally be Yond the insights ofthese profssonal conspirators. He could pesaps have made Flaubert tatement, “OF all poles T understand only one thing: the revll,” his own ‘The link to the workers’ stugle is loeated, simply, in dest, "lsewhere, Deleuze and Guattay have afempted an aiemativs definition ‘of desc, revising th one offered by psychoanalysis: “Desire doesnot ack fnything it does not lack its object. Tis, rethor the subject that lackang ines, or desire that lacks a xed subject; there is no fed subject except by repression. Desire and is object are unity: Its the machine, 8.3 ‘Machine ofa machine. Desire is machine the abject of deste also com netted machine so that the product sted from the proces of producing, nd something detaches self rom producing to product nd gives leftover {0 the vagabond, nomad subject™ “Tai dation docs not alter the specificity ofthe desiring subject (or leRoversubject-efet that ataches to specie instances of desire oF to Droduction ofthe desiring machine. Moreover, when the connection be- {tween desire and the subject h ken as ielevant or merely reversed the subjecteffc that surepttously emerges is uch lke the generalized id= ‘logical subject ofthe theorist This may be the lgal sje of socialized nor management, holding a "strong passport, sing currency, with supposedly unguestioned sess v0 de proces Its certainly not the desiring suject a Other, ‘The falure of Deleue and Guatan fo consider the relations between desire, power, and subjectivity renders dem incapable of atcur lating a theory of interests. In his coment their ndference fo icology (a theory of whichis nosesiry for an understanding of iteress) sting but consistent. Fouraults commitment to "zencaogial” speculation p= vents him fam locating in great names" ike Mare and Freud, watersheds {im some continuous sieam of intellectual history” This cormhiteent has treated an unforunate resistance in Foucauls work to "mere" ideological ‘ntique, Wester speculations on the ideological reproduction of socal r- letons belong to that mainstream, and its within tis tration that AI- thusser writes The reproduction of labour power routes not only re production of its sill, but also at the sane ime, & reproduction of is Submission tothe ruling Ideology Tor the workers and 8 reproduction of the ability 10 manipulate the ruling ideology correcly or the agents of‘exploitation and repression, so that they, 9, will prove forthe domi- ration of the ruling clase in and by words’ [parla parcle.™ ‘When Foucault considers the pervasive heterogeneity of power, the does not ignore the immense inaitutonal heterogenesy that Alnuse? Dereattempisto schematize. Silay, in speaking of alliances and systems ‘ofsigns, the sate and war-machines (mile paves), Deleuze and Guatar fre opening up that yery field. Foucault cannot, however, admit that 2 Seveloped theory of ideology recognizes its own material production ip Snsittonality, 28 well asin the “elective instruments for the formation and accumulation of knowledge” (PX, 102). Because thse phlesophets ‘com obliged to rejet all argiments naming the concept of idclogy stony Schematic rather than textual, they are equally obliged to produce & mo- ‘canically schematic opposition betwee interest and desire, Thus they align themselves wath bourgeois sociologists who fil the pace of ideology with 2 Continulstic “unconscious” or parsubjeeuve “culture.” The mechanical ‘elation berwcea desire and intrest s clea in such sentonoes ax "We never Gesire against our interests, because intrest abs} follows and finde Hell ‘where desires placed it" (FD, 215) An undiflerenated desires te agent, ‘nd power slips into create hells of desire: "power. produces postive fet atthe level of desie—and also atthe level of knowledge” (PK. 59 “This parasubjecive matrix, crosshatched with heteogeneis, ushers dhe unnamed Subject at east for those intellectual workers ft teneed by the new hegemony of deste: The race for “be last instance” ‘ow between economics and power. Because desis tacily defined on sn frthodox model, ite unitary opposed to “being deceived" Tdcology a5 “alge consciousness" (being decetves) has Been called into question by Althusser. Ben Reich implied notions of collective wil rater than 2 ‘hotomy of deception and undeceived dese: "We must accept the Screamh Of Reich: n, the masses were not deceived ata parca momen, they ‘actully deste a fascist regime” (FD, 213). “These plesopers wil ot enerain the thought of constitutive contradicon=that is where they admitedy part company from the Left In the name of desire, they reintroduce the unaivided subject ito the dis course of power. Foucault often seems to conflate “individual” and “sub Jeet" and the impact on his own metaphors is perhaps intensified in his followers Because ofthe power of the word “power,” Foucault admits 10 Using the “metaphor of the point which progressively ada its sur Founding,” Such stipe become the rule rather than te exception less ‘areful hands. And tat radiating point, animating sn efectvelyheliocetee ‘iscouse ills te empty place ofthe agent with te historical sn of theory. the Subject of Europe." Foucault articulates another corollary of the dsavowal ofthe role of ideology in reproducing the socal relations of production: an unques: tloned valorization ofthe oppressed as subject, the “object bung" a8 De. Jeuze admiringly remarks, "to establish conditions where the prvoners themseves would be abe to speak" Foucault add that “the masses know pevftcly wel clearly"—once again the thematicsofbeing undeceived—"they Know far heir than the intelectual] and they eral say it very well” (FD, 206, 207, ‘What happens to the critique of the sovereign subject in these ‘pronouncements? The limits ofthis repeseaationalist realism are reached 24 ith Deleuze: “Reality Ye what actually happens in tory, in schol, in barack, ina prison, in police station” (FD, 212). This foecosing of the necessity ofthe citicalt ask of counteregemonic iological production has not been salutary. It has helped positivist empircism—dhe justifying fGupdation of advanced capitalist neocolomalism™o define is own aena 5 "concrete experiener." "what actually happens.” Indeed, the concrete ‘experience that ithe guarantor ofthe political appeal of prisoners, sors, and schoolhilden is disclosed through the concrete experienc ofthe in teeta the one who diagnoses the epsteme." Neither Deleuze nor Fou. ‘aul seems aware thatthe nteloctal thin socialized capil, brandishing onerete expenence, can help consolidate he international division olabor "The unrecopized contradiction within a poston that valorizes the coneree expeiegr ofthe oppressed, while being so uncritical about the historical role ofthe intellotual i maintained by a verbal slipese ‘Thos Deleuze mates this remarkable pronouncement. “A theory i i 4 ‘bor of tots Nothing to do with the signin” (FD. 208) Considering hat the verbalism ofthe theovecal world snd ts access to any world defined against It as “practical i ieveducibe, sch 8 dectration helps only the {bull:talanaious to rove that nelle labor i jst ike mana abo. is when signers are left to Took after themcves tbat verbal sippases happen. The signer “representation” is 8 case ih point. Ta the sme di fiksive tone that severs theory's nk fo the signer, Deleure’ declare, "There ino more representation there's aothing bt action" action of ‘theory and ection of pracuce which felte 10 eachother a rey and form retworks" (FD, 206-1) Yet an imiportant pot is being mage here: the Droduction of tery is alio\a practice, the opposition between abstract. “pure theory and concrete “applied” practice Yoo quick end cas." Tihs is indeed, Deleuze's argument, his articulation of i is problematic. Two senses a representation are Beng a toaster represen: {ation as "speaking for asin politics, and representation as “e-presen- as iar ar philosophy Siace Uheory i aso only “action” the {hearetcin doesnot represen (peak for) the oppressed prowp, Indeed he Subject snot sun aa representative comsiousnes (one Fe-presentingfal- ity adequately), These two senses of represeolation-athin sate formation snd the aw, on the one hand, and in subject predation, onthe atherare felsted but ireducibly discontinuous To cover over te scominuty with Sr analogy thats presented as a poof rellcts again a paradoxical subject Dalene" Becase the person ho speaks and acts is avaye a tle plicit,” ao “theorzinginlictual for] party oe union” can fep- ‘event ihose who actand stugale" (FD 206) Are those wh et and tragale ‘ute, as opposed to those who act and speae (FD, 2067” These immense problems are buried in the diferenoes between the "same™ words: con: Seiousness and conscience (both consclonce in French), representation and Fe-preentation, The critique of ideological sbjectconstuton within state {ermations and sstoms of political economy can now’ be efaeed, as cam the active theoretical practice ofthe “transformation of consciousness” ‘The Danality of lest meletuas’ sts of seleknowing, politically canay sab altemns stands revealed; representing them, te intleviuals represent he Selves os tansparen. ‘such acriique and sucha project are not wo be given wp, the shiing distinctions between representation within the mated pote] 278economy, on the one hand, and within the theory ofthe Subjeet, on the ‘ther, must not be obliterated. Let us consider the play of verrten (ep> ‘eseni in the Bt sense) and dase ("represent tn the second Sense) Ja famovs passage in The Fightcenh Brumaire of Lous Bonaparte, where Mar touches on cliss” as a descriptive and transformative concept in ‘manner somewhat more complex than Althusser's distinction between ass Instinet and cass poston would allow "Mares contention hee thatthe deserptve definition ofa clas an bea difeental onewits cating off and diference fom all the clases: ‘fa so far as milion of families live under coonomic conditions of exsence that eut ef ter mode of i, tei interest and thes formation fom thse ff the other classes and place them in inimical conffontation ernlich itegenahorstlen, they form a casa There fs no such ting a2 “class ‘Instinct at work ere. Infact te collocdvty of Tamil existence, which ‘might be considered the arena of instinct,” vs discontinuous with, though Operated by, the difezeatialsoation of clases. this context, ne far more pertinent fo the France of the 1970 than i cane to the international Periphery te formation ofa elas s aufical and economie, omic ageaey or interest(s impersonal because itis systeat Openeous. This agency or interest is tied to the Hefelian entique of the {atvidual subject, for it marks the subject's empty pace in that process ‘without a subject which is history and political economy. Here the capitalist 1s defined as "he conscious bearer (Trager ofthe limiles movemeat of fplal™« My point is that Marx i aot working to reste an undivided Subject where desire and inaestcoinede- Class consciousness does not ‘operate toward that goa. Both i she economic atea(eapitalist) and in the political (worldhistoreal agent), Marx is obliged to construct models of & Aivided snd dislocated subject whose pars are not continuous or coherent tuth each other. A eslebrated passage like the desonption of capital asthe Faustian monster brings this home vividly.” "The following passage, continuing the quotation from The Eigh con Brumair, is alse working on the structural principle ofa dispersed ‘nd dislocated lass subject the (absent clleiva) consciousness af the {Sal peasant proprietor Cass nds fs "bearer" ine “Yepresemtaive™ who Sppeats ro work in another’ interest. The word “represematve™ ete not ‘arscfen hs sbarpes the cosast Foucault and Deleuze sige ove, the contrast, say, between a proxy and a porsait. Thee is, of couse 4 relationship between them, one that has recived politcal and ideologal ‘saceration i the European tradition at est sine the poet and the sophist, {he actor and the erator, have both been seen as harmful In the guise of @ DostMardist description ofthe scene of power, we thus encounte a much ‘lier debate: between representation or helarie 38 ropolgy and a8 pe. Suasion, Daszlon belongs to the frst constlation,veretn=vith sironger Suggestions of substitution the second. Again they ae ated, bul run ‘ing them together, especially in order 1o sy that beyond bot is where ‘oppressed subjects speak, act, and know fr Hemselves, leads to an een tals, utopian polities. Tete is Maras passage, using "“vertrten” whece the English use “represent,” discussing a socal “subject” whose conseiousnes and Vere sung (as much a substitution as & represeatation) are dislocated and inco- ‘herent The small peasant proprietors “cannot represent themselves; they 276 rust be represented. Their represntative must appear simultaneously as thevrmaser,asan authority over them, a» unresieed goverameatal power that protects them fom the otber eases and sends em rain and sunshine ftom sbove, The policalinuence [in the place ofthe clas interest, since thowe no unied clas subj] ofthe smal peasant proprietor therefore fins its lest expression (the implication of a chan of substtusons™Ver Irewngencis sions bere inthe executive Foee (Exeladtgewaltes p= Sonal sn German) subordinating society Yo tell "Noconty docs sucha node of soca indirection —necesary eps Seinen seco nuchal as ei) the sepresenative™ (Louis Napoleon, and th historica-plitel phenom- Enon (ecutive conta}implyaeltaue ofthe subject as individual agent ura caigue cven ofthe subjectivity ofa collec ageney. The necessary Sisiocstad machine of story moves Decuse “the deny ofthe iterest tthe proprietors “alto produce a feling of communi, nation inks, (a poltctl organization” The event of epreseatauion as Verretung (a {he constlation of thtoricar persuasion) tehaves like a Daneling (ot {eioreas-troe), taking Hs place in the zap between the formation ol (Geseripve css and the nonformation of (wansformative) cas Ta sO {ots milion of families live under economic conditions of existence that Separate thelr mode of ie they form aclans Tn fat a8. he entity ‘Site intrest fis to produce 4 Teling of community. they do not Jorma cass The comply of Verret an Darwen, he Went ‘Sereno asthe plat of prasice since tha comply i pecsly wat ‘Masi yut expos; as Marx docs in Te EightenthBromtaire-can Only ‘be appedatd if hey are not confit bya slight of word. itvould be merely endentous o argue tat ts extuaizs Marx to much, taking him inaccessible to the common “ma.” who, a victim ‘tcommen sense so deeply laced nt Renae of ontivism that Marrs {freductle emphasis on the work ofthe neptve onthe necessity for de- {Gishing tne Concrete, js persistently rete fom him by the strongest {Evers “the Rstonel toni the ain Fave been tying to pent fut that the uncommon “man,” the contemporary philosopher of practice, Sometimes exhibits he same posits. “fhe gravy of the problem fs apparent ifone apres that the development of transformative clas “consciousness” fom a descriptive clas “pontion” is notin Marka task engaging the ground fevel of con- Sloss. Clas consciousness wih he en of commu at telongso national inks and political organizations, not otha otber feeling Creommunty whose structural model she family. although noridentiied Sth nature he family here contlated with What Ma cals “nara xchange" wishin piosophical speaking a “placehole fo use vale.” Natural exchanges contrasted to iniercouse with society,” where the ord “imerourse” Verkly is Marw’s usual Word for “commerce This “ercourse” thus holds te place ofthe exchange fading fo the production fof surplus value and iis in he a7ea of ths intercourse that he feling of ommunity leading o clas agency must be developed. Ful clas agency (Gf here were sucha thing) not an dealopcal wanaformation of concious beseon te ground levels desrng deni ofthe agents and her nterest— {he Ment whose absence roubles Foucault and Deeaze. Tis a conte {atoryveplaceren aswel a an appropriation (supplementation) of ome a‘hing that is “artifit” to bes with—"“economic conditions of existence that separate heir mode ef lle"” Mars formulations show a cautious re spect forthe nascent etiqe of individual and collective subjective agency ‘Fhe projects of eas consiourners and ofthe transformation of conscious nest are iscontinuous issues for him. Conversely, contemporary invocs- fons of “Hbiginal eoonomy” and desie asthe determining interest, com= bined withthe practical poites ofthe oppressed (under socialized capital) ‘Npeating for themelvet,” restore the eaterry of the sovercign Subject ‘win the theory that seems most to question I [No doubt the exclusion ofthe uly, albeit a family belonging to a spectc ease formation, is par ofthe masculine frame within which ‘Maram mark its birth» Historically as wll as in today’s global political {conomy, the familys oe in patarcal socal relation ao beterogencods Sid contest that merely repiseing the fail in this peoblematie i not [ing to break the frame, Nor does the solution iin the positivist ncusion ‘Sra monolithic collectivity of "women inthe ist ofthe oppressed whose Unfiacured subjectivity allows them to speak for themselves against an ‘sally monolithie "same system." "Inthe context af the development ofa sate, arial, and second-level “consciousness” Mary tats the concept of te patonyai, ivays within the broader coscept of representation as Vrrenung: The sal ‘peaamt proprietors “are therefore incapable of making their class interest Valid in ther proper name [im eigenen Namen) whether though 3 pas~ ‘ent or through a convention. ‘The absence ofthe nonfnial araifcial Calletive proper name i supplied by the only proper name "historical ‘radition” ean ofr~the patronymic itcl=the Name ofthe Father: "His torial tradition produced the French peasants’ belie that a miracle would bovur that aman named Napoleon would estore al their gory. And an {vidual tumed up" untranslatable "es fand sich” (ete found ist “tn individual) demolihes all questions of egeney othe agent's conection ‘wi his interest—"who gave himself otto be het man” (cis petense 1s Dy contrast, his only proper agency) “because he carted [det—the word eo he capitalist lator opal] he Naeleanls Code wich ‘commands that "ingury into pateraty is forbidden.” While Marx here ‘Scems to be working within & petuarchal metaphoric, one should note the ‘extualsubety ofthe passage, Iti the Law of the Father (he Napoleonic Code) that paradoxically prohibits the searcn for the natural fates. Ths ‘tis according toa strict observance ofthe historical Law of the Father thai the formed ye unformed class's ih in Ue nara father is gins. have dwelt so long on this passage in Mars because it spells ‘ot the inner dynamics of Verve, oF tepresentation in the political ‘content, Representation in the ceonomic context Daren the pilo- Sophie concept of representation as staging or, indeed, signification, whieh felses tothe divided rubject in an indinet way. The most obvious passage {5 wel known “In the exchange tlatonship /4usauachverhal of com: Imoditis their exchange-value appeared 0 vs totally independent of their ‘se-valuc, But we subtract ther usevalue from he product of labour, we ‘obtain their val, a it was just determined [stinm). The common ele- ‘ment which represents ie [ich darlin he exchange relation, oF the fachange valve ofthe commodity, is thus its value.” 278 Gayats Chakravorty Spivak According o Mar, under capitalism, value 8 produced in nec. cssary and surplus labor, Is computed asthe representation si of objec ted labor (which is rghrousy distinguished from human acuvis) Con. eri the absence of theory of explain as the extaton (production), aporopration, and realzation of (surplus) value a! represen {ation of labor power capitals exploitation must be seen 2 variety of dlomination ihe mechanics of power as such). “The thrust of Marxism, Deleuze suguests, "vas to determine ihe problem [that power is more aise than the structure of exploitation and se formation) coat terms ‘of interests (power is held by ruling cass defined hy is meres)” UD. 2, One cannot obec to this minimalist suramary of Marx's pojet, just as ove canpot ignore that, in parts ofthe sn Oedipus, Deere snd (Guattar build their ease on riliant if poetic” grap of Macy's theory of the money form, Yet we might consolidate our erique in the fllowing ‘ay the relationship between lobal capitalism (xpletatio in economic) 4nd nation-state lances (domination in gopobis) sso macrolgial tat “anaot account forthe microlopcl textre of power. To move toward Such an accounting one must move toward theories of Ideologyof subject formations that mierologealy and often eratialy operate the tterests that ‘ongeal the mactologies. Sach theories cannot alr to overiook the ete {gory of representation in is two sensex. They must note how the saging oF the world in representaton-is scene of wring 1s Darsellung—dssi- Inthe cok ofand ned fr “heroes paternal prot eis owe ‘rirtune ‘My view is that radical practice should attend to this double session of representations rater than reintroduce the individ subject {through toalzng concepts af power snd desire Iti aso my view tha in kceping the area of class practice on a socond level of sbsraction, Mark ‘was in effec keoping open the (Kantian and) Hepstian crugue ofthe in- dividual subject as agent This view docs not oblige eto ignore tha, Oy Jimpliily dening the family and the mother tongue asthe ground level where culture and convention seem nates ov way of organizing “har” ‘own subversion, Mars imslf heures an ancien sublerfoge." Inthe con text of posstucturalist claims to ertical practic, thi sems more Teck erable than the clandestine restoration of rubjectve eens, “The reduction of Mart to 2 benevolent but dated gure most often serves the Interest of launching new theory of incerpetation. In the Foucault Delewe conversation, the istue seems tobe that thete sno ep fesenttion, no signier (Ist be presumed thatthe sine has ready been dispatched? Theres, then, no sigasiructure operating experience and thus might one lay semiotics fo rest) theory isa relay of practice (hus laying problems of theoretical practice to rest) and the oppresed can know abd speak far themselves This reintrodwoss the conseve subject on least two levels the Subject of desire and power as an iveducble meth ‘ological presupposition and the sleproximate, i not self dente su Jet ofthe oppressed. Further, the ntlectuals, who are nether of hese S/ ‘subjects, become transparent in the rely race, for they merely report on the nonfepresened subject and analyze (without analyzing) the Workings of (ihe unnamed Subject ureducibly presupposed bs) power and desire. The Droduced“wansparency” marks the place of intrest' itis malnined by 278vehement denepaton: “Now this ole of ere, judge, and universal witness iS one which absoluzely refuse 19 adopt One responsiblity ofthe ene ‘might be fo read and write s0 that the mpossibity of such interested individualistic refusals of the institutional petvilegs of power bestowed on the subject is ten seriously. The ffusal ofthe siga-sytem blocks the way twa developed theory of ideology. Here, to, tbe peculiar tone of deneation Js heard. To Jacque Alain Milee'ssuggention that “the institution sete siscursive,” Foucault responds, “Yes, iyu ike, butt doesn't much mater {ey soon fhe appr we Ny tha cn a alist. given that my problem ian a linguistic one” (PK. 198) Why this conflation of language and discourse from he master of discourse anal wast ard W. Sui’ criae of power in Foe 8a opting ad mysthng ety tht slows ht oobi the le of Sass ‘ieee ofecoomen roi of urgency snd eel” parent fre Iai to Suis spy te non of te urepous ste of oes to deve marked ihe espureny of he melita, Carosy touch, Pol Bove ee Sud fr crpmasiog th ipa of te et ‘thecal hres" Fowcelts projet cuenta incalnee othe eng Tol of bls rpemoni and oppnttonnellsnsle "Thane suse that thn “change ecptve precy neu it gntes wha Se Emplaiacsbe cic nsttonl raponsiy “Ti itech curio seo ope ino sansparency by deneationn, belongs to ths eles of is itratonl aga or inbr i tinosntle for contemporry Frenette agne ae nd of Poer and Dee tne woud fab he unnamed seo he OtherorBuone is at ony that evenine thy ad calor otal, aust wih the dbo he pation of at Ore spore a lagi the cositon of he Suge ms Europe It's ai fae ioe onstton ofthat Orr af Europe, bat sae salen osc ee {eval greens ith which och sob ould xe Soul cap Gave is tnerary~not onl by eloped an cen rosin, at ‘bythe instante nw Homever ttn en ccna ish scm te Frees ness og st he pel tn see ESreasermined perpen te ra of udm ome se ion reurng shat nests moves da) nd owes oF oe ‘runny dlascas To ovo tt daeaion ov tan saa a fever that should make agnose the somone Condon of extence ‘Eat spate out "dames" cesta ie of aed amac hiner may ell ta conve te nr of hat dalatonand eis top in scaring“ new nance of hegemonic eon’ alert {oth atgrment sory in th eo he pray tat he ll ‘compl n the pres conton af Oca he Ss sone osty of pole practi forthe nes would be op the oo fore deat ronmic rs reac $s the social tot, cven st ie anes However ier when Sisto be te al Sorina oe tansondentl ged ‘The clearest avaiable example of such epistemic violence isthe remotely orchestrated, far-fung, and heterogeneous projet to constitute the 280 Gaysti Chakravarty Spivak colonial subject as Othe. This project is algo the asymetical obliteration Of the trace of thax Other in its precarious Subjeceivty. Tis well known that Foucault locates episemie violence, a complete overhaul of the eps. ‘ee, in the redefinition of sanity atthe end of the European eighteenth eat. But what if tht parculr redefinition was only a part of the ‘arratve of history in Europe ss well ss inthe colonies? What if the te project of epistemic overiul worked as dislocated ang wnacknowedged parts of a vat twocbandod engine? Perhape fi» no more than to ask that {he subtext ofthe palimpsestic narrative of imperialism be recognized as “Ssubjugato knowledge,” "a whole set of knowledges that have been die- ualied as inadequate to their task or isuficienty claborated: naive nowiedars, located low down onthe hierarchy, beneath the roguzed level of cognition or scentcty" (PK, $2). Thisisnot to describe “the way things realy were” orto pevilege the narrative of history a5 imperialism asthe best version of history.” It Isvrather to offer an account of how aa explanation and srctive of ealty ‘was estalised as the normative one. To elaborate om iy let ws consider ‘ely the underpinnings ofthe British codication of Hindu Lav. Fs, few disclaimers: Inthe United States the hid worldism curren afleat in humanistic aisiplines is often openly ethnic Tas born {in nda and vecived my primary, secondary, and university ection {here isluding two years of graduate work My Indian example could thus be seen as a nostalgic investigation of he Tost rots of my own ideal. ‘Yet even as 1 know that one cannot fely enter the thickets of “mouva ‘Hong T would maintain that my eh projet sto point out the postvist- ‘Meals variety of such nostalgia. Lara to Indian material becadse, inthe fbsence of advanced dssplinery taining, that accident of birth ad edu fation has provided me with sense ofthe historical canvas, « hold on Some ofthe pertinent languages that are useful ols for arco. especially ‘when armed withthe Maraist skepticism of concrete experience asthe Binal arbiter and a eritigque of disciplinary formations, Yet the Indian case cannot be taken as representative ofall countries, ation, cultures, and the Ike that maybe invoked a the Or of Esrope as Sell: “Here, then, is schematic summary of the epistemic violence of the codication of Hind Law It lars the notion ofepistemic violence, ‘my final incusion of widowesnerfce may grin add significance, ‘Atte end ofthe eighteenth ceatury, Hindu la soar a itcan Dbedeseribed asa unitary system, operated i ermsof four texts that staged” 8 furpartepiseme deine bythe subject's use of memory: su (te hear), Sot (the remembered), sasra (the learned-lrom-another), and avahora (the performedsinexchange). The ovgins of what had been heard and what bas remembered were not necessary continuous or Ideal. Every ins Yocation of su technically recited (or reopened) the event of oninary “hearing” or revelation, The second two texts—iheleamed and the per- formed™were Seen as daleicaly continuous, Legal theorists and practi= loners were not in any given cate certain if this structure desorbed the body of law or four ways of sting a dispute. "The iegtimation of the polymorphous structure of legal performance, “interaly" noncaberent and ‘pen at both ends, thous a binary vison isthe narative of eadfieation Toffer as an example of epistemic violence.The narrative of the stabilization and cedication of Hinde law is less wall Known than the story of Indian education, 30 mast wall to start there Consider the often-quoted programmatic lines hoes Ne ulay'sinfamous “Minute on Indian Eoucaton® 839) Wesaurea at do our best to form a cass who may be interpreters between Us an te millions whom we govern; a cass of persons, indian In Slocd aed ee ‘but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect To that cage swe may leave i 40 the great mass of the population.” The sducstoal Cae eee complements their production in law. One eft of esablatine « wees ‘of te British system was the development ofan uneasy aeparuion betes ‘iscilinary formation in insist studies and te nave dou allen tradition of Sansirit “high culture." Within the former the edna eke. ations generated by authoritative scholars matched the epistemic violence ofthe legal projec. 1 Jocae here the founding ofthe Asiatic Society of Bengal in £1784, the India Istitte at Oxford in 1883, andthe analyte ea taxon work of scholars ike Arthur Macdonaell and Arthur Betidsle Keli ots gf Sansknt, it is impossible to guess at ether te agressive reprssinn ‘Sanskrit in'the general educational famework or the Ineaatg “enake ation” of the performative use of Sanskrit in the everyday I of Rate ‘anichegemonie India.” A version of history was gradual ceublabog ‘which the Brahmans were shown to have the same intentions ee ea ting the egiimation for) the codtying Brush: “In order to prstece Hindu society intact fhe} successors [ot the orginal Brahmans hed wo ‘ede everyting to writing and make them more and more "sd And hag '8 what has preserved Hindu society inspite of a sucewsion of potent Upheavals and foreign invasions." This ete (92ers oe Net ‘opadhyaya Harapresad Shastri, leamed Indian Sess belsnt resentative ofthe indigenous cite wuhin colonial producton cae ey asked fo wut several chapters ofa "History of Bengal" projected y the Brive secretary tothe governor general of Bengal in 191°" To sane ihe metry inthe relationship besween authority and explanation eee, |n8 onthe rae-class of the authority), compare this 1938 remark by Edd ‘Thompson, English intelectual: "Hinduism was what if scened tose figas..Reher cvlzation that won [against i), Both with Akbar and the English" And add this, fom letter by an Enh soldier scholar 9 the 80x “The study of Sans, “the language ofthe gout" has albeded ee intense enjoyment during the last 28 ears of my Hf in India bot on ot Lam thankful to 38) led me, asi has some, give ups heony baa ‘our own grand religion, “These authorities ae the very Bes of the sources for the nonspe- {iis French intellectuals entry into the sivitzation ofthe Others ony, Dowever, not referring to inteleculs and scholars of pontclonal precn. Hoo, IE Shas, when I say thatthe Other as Subject Is inacosee io Foucault and Deleuze. 1 am thinking ofthe general nonspecalst nonace ‘emi population aross the clas spetium, for whom the paiene Goes 22 ‘Gayatri Chataavorty Spivak ts slem programming fetion, Without considering the map of exploi- {ston on what sid of“oppresion" would they pace is ey See Let us now move to consider the margin (ne can xt wel say the sles, slenced center) ofthe cielt marked ou by this eprom ‘iolence, men, and women among the illest peasantn, he bbl the lowest stata ofthe urban subpoletarat. According vo Fowciultand Delouss (the First World, under the standardization and regimenaton a ‘ized capital, though they do ot scem to recognize ths) te oppresse, itgiven te chance the robiom of representation cannot te typesee heey, and on the way wo Solidanty through allan politics ta Mareot thera ‘sat war here cam speak an now ther conaiion, We must now confront {he folowing question: On the her ade of the intratioal divin af Inbor fom sochnlized capitalise and ouside the cet o the epsemsic ‘iolence of impenalist fw and education suplencntng an crher on. omic ten, cat the subaltonspenk? Antonio Gramsci's work onthe “bate cases" extends the clase porion/las-consciousnes argument ated in Tae Eightcnth Be naire Perhaps because Gramsc racine the vanguacisc peion ofthe Uenins intellectual, e is concered with the Intlccuas ole inthe Su alter’ scltral an polities movement nt the egenons Thstovewet must be made tg determine the production o hist as hare se Intex auch at “The Southern Question,” Gramas consid the movement historical poltia economy in aly thn what can be soan aan ale ‘of reading taken rom or prediguring an international division of aban Yet an'acount ofthe plascd development ofthe stalin to, ou of Joint when his cultural macroloey is operated, however remotely. by the Spiele wih icp nd diay nn omar theimpenalis prec. When [move st ticendothisesay, othe guesuog ‘ot woman a subltern, Iwi ugg tate poss fatty sll 's perstenlyforelosd through the manipustion of nae opens PemsetTne ft part of my propostion: ht ie phase deepment ofthe subatern is complicated By the imperialist projets confontod by Scoletve of ntti who may balled the "Suira Ses” goa? ‘They ms ak, Can the subalter speak? Hete we are witin Foscals own dsiplne of hisry and wath people who acknoviedge hs fuses, ‘Their projet is o etn ndian Colonial histonograp fem the pe spzsive ofthe aicominuous cain of peasant insurgents dig the c- Tonia occupation, Tus ndcod the problem ofthe permis a marae Asus by Suid As Ranajt Cube Bue, ‘The historiography of Indian astonalism has for & long time been dominated by eltismcolomlist el ‘ism and bourpeois nationalist citsm sharing] the prejudice thatthe making ofthe Tadian nation and the development of te conciousnessnationalism— which confirmed this process were exclusively or pe dominantly elite achievement n the colonials ad eo-olonais historiographies these achievements are ‘edited to Brtsh colonial urs, administrators, pol ‘cies, Institutions, and oltre i the nationalist hd a8neo-nationalit writings—to Indian elite personalities, Insitutions, activities and ideas" Certain varieties ofthe Indian ete ae at het native informants for Sst ‘word intellectuals interested inthe voice ofthe Other Hut one mest sever eles insist that the colonized subltern subjec i irewiovaly beerope ‘Amins he indigenous cite we may set what Guha calls “the poles ofthe people” bot ouside (it was tfonomous doa, ot {toeiter onpnated from cle poten nord is existonce depend othe Tater") and inside it continued to operate vigorously m ste of [elo alam), adjusting set te conditions prevating under the a a ip ‘any respects developing enily new sss in bo form and coment) the cecal of colonial production" Teaanot enrey endorse ts inutnse ‘on determinate vigor sn fll autonomy, for racial hstoograhic eo feneies wll nt allow such endorsements to peli salem censsions ets, Against the posible charge that hin approach is essa, Goh ‘onstrate definition ofthe people (ihe pace of hat essence) hal can be ‘nly an identiy-in-diferental. He proposes a dynam sabeation eid Seserbing colonial vocal production arg. Even the turd weap on the 1st the Bur grou, as it wee, betwen the people and the pea macro. stricta! dominant groups is elf defined apa Pac af -bewecnnes, what Dera has dosed ata ae" cite {. Domina fonian groups. (Bok a he ttn et Dominant indigenous groupe a tie reo! an local levels, : ‘sven The terms “people” and “subatern clases” have ‘en sed ab s/nonpmous thoughout this ate The Sock poops an clement Int dd In this xen eon he demcoraphicdiferonc beeen he tl Indian population anda hoe whom we have Ge ser he "ete eccrine diem on hi itt auf stata in crmincy thee careful historians pressppone sett) apple With the ‘question, Can te subaltern speak? “Faken as whale and nthe sare goes en in comp to han cuaeven charac of eionl economic and socal Jevlopments dire ‘Som area to area The se cls or Cent which as dominant ope fren coud be among the dominated in antaer, This could and a Sim ambatic an onciciny iad nd sans pecially among itelowes sal ofthe ul gent, mpoveishe a ‘eh pests and upper idle cas pest al whom teloel eal ‘peaking. the category of ppl o autem casa The tak of researeh preeted hee it fnvestne, identi and measur the spec ature and dope of deiaton feel ceens {constituting item 3] fom the del an sate hsoncaly “lavas, ‘en and measure the socde™a propm could hry be moe es 204 Gayate Chakravorty Spivake tials and taxonomic, Yet a curious methodologic imperative is a work TThave argued that n the Fovcnul-Deleuee conversation a portepicsen: {ational vocabulary hides an eset agenda, In subalterh studs, be ‘lust of the violence of imperlist epistemic, socal. ana disciplinary i Sription, «project understood in escent terme must ate tn adical textual pretce of diferences, The objec of the group's invesiaon, i the case not even ofthe people as such but of the Roating baller tone ot the regional eitesubaltert, ra deviation fom an idea people O ub lternewhich ite defined asa diference fom ibe elie Is toward thi Structure thatthe research i oriented, predicament rather cierent from {he seltdiagnosed tansparency ofthe free-worié radical inteleceal, What taxonomy fan fx such & space? Whether or not they themselves peretve {tein fact Guba sees his defintion of the people” within the maser slave dlaleesowtheir ext arcuates the felt tak of rewnting ie own con ‘isons of impossibility a the conditions ofits poset. "At the pina and local level [the dominant naigenous groups) ‘belonging to soca stata haarchcally inferior to those of the dom inant avtndian groupe acted in the intrest of the letter and not cow Jarmity io interes corresponding fu) to thelr ow socal being” When ‘these writers speak, i ther essentialning language of psp between interest ‘and action in the intermediate group ther conclisions ate closer to Mant ‘thant the seconsious navel of Belews pronouncement on the ah Gua ke Mary. speaks of interest in ters ofthe socal rather tha the Iibidial eng, The Name-ofthe Father imagery in The Bigheenth Boe ‘maire can help to emphasize thi, on the level of clas ar froup acon, “true corespondence to owa being" is a6 arial or socal asthe pat. ‘So much forthe imermediate group marked in item 3. For the ‘wue" subaltem group, whose deny sis diferene, thre is 80 Uae: presentable suballem subject thatcan know and speak isl. the intles {a's solution is nt to abstain Tom representation. The problem i that {Me subject's itinerary has not been raced so as oe angie of sation {othe represeatig etlcctual. In the sighly date language ofthe Indian ‘zoup, the question becomes, How can we touch the consiournes of the ‘eople even as we investigate her pois? With what woic-consciousbess an th subaltera speak? Thee projet afer all sto rewrite te development fof the consciousness of the Indian nation. The planned disoatimuy ef ‘mperaiam ngoroasy distinguishes thie projec, However old-fashioned it artcultion, fom "rendering vsti The medical and judical mechanisns {hat surrounded the story (ot Piere Riviere)” Foucault is comet in Sue esting tat "Yo make visible the unseen ca also mean a chanae of level, ‘Eldresing onevalf ts layer of material vhich had hitherto had mo ert ‘ence for histor and Which had not been recogriaed as having amy mor, ‘esthetic or hisrial vale." Its the slipage from reagring visible the ‘mechanism to rendering vocal the individual, both avoiding "any Kind of “pals of fe subject] whether psjcelogiapeychounaltcal or lngus+ tis" that is eonsitendy troublesome (PK. 49-3. ‘The ertuque by Ait K. Chauahury, a West Bengali Marist, of ‘Guha’s sere or the subaltrmeoaaciousness ean be seen as 4 moment of the production procs that includes the subalter. Chauhary's perception {that te Maras view of the tansformatton of consciousness imralve heAnoledge of socal relations seems 10 me, in principle, astute, Yet the [ertageof the positivist ideology that has appropriated orodox Marsa, obliges him to add tis riders “This is not to belle the inportence of ‘understanding peasants’ consciousness or workers tonscoustes fis une Jorn, This coriches ou knowledge ofthe peasant and he worker and, iy rowan ical ode nec les ri ent regions, which is considered a problem of Seond order Importance Im elasical Marsiom."* This vay of “tematonalit” Marssm, which believes ina pre retrievable frm of consciousness only to diss ths closing of ‘What in Marx remain moments of productive bafiment, cast one be {he objet of Foucault's and Deleuze's rejection of Marts andthe sours ofthe erica motivation ofthe Subltern Studies group. Al tne arc onted {nthe assumption tat there iss pure form of consciousness On the French ene, there i shufing of sniers “the unconscious or “be subject {t-oppresion” clandestncly fils he space of “te pure form of conscious est Tn orthodox “internationals ntelctal Martin, Whether athe Fist Word or he Third, the pure form of consciousness femns an leh Ist bedrock whch dismissed ab a second-order problem, ofen caus tthe epuation of racso and sexism. Inthe Subaltee Studios group it nesoe development according ote unacknowledged terms of sown aedlaon, Forsuch an articulation «developed theory of ology con cess ‘mow fl I rte sucht Chaudhary te anoctaon ofan sciousness” with “imowledge” amis the crucial ile erm of idcologieal reduction": “Consciousness, acconding to Lenin. is associated wiht ‘nowiedge of se ierrelationshipe between dillerent esses and groups, 4g, knowledge of the materials that constitute socey. Thee dea ‘ons sequirea meaning only within the problematic witha efit knoe ge objeto understand change In history, or spell, change fort fone mode to another, keeping the guction of the spe a pariclar de ou of the oss Pore Macherey provides the following formula forthe inte. _retation of idzology: "What is important n 3 work is what it docs Hot sy. ‘This is ote sme asthe carlos notation what veluses tanh sthoee ‘Bat woud i self be interne e method might be buon fh he task of measuring silences, wheter acknowledged or unacknowledged. But rather this, what the work canner sa) is mportan, because there te Sab ‘ration ofthe utterance is caried out, ina sort of journey to lence Macherey’s ideas can be developed in dzcctions fe would be ualicey to fallow. Even ashe writes, ostensibly, ofthe hterarnes ofthe ierature oF European provenance, he articulates @ method applicable to the social ext timperialsm, somewhat against the grain of his own argument Aliiough the notion “what it refuses toa)" might be careless for» Hits. woxk, Something ike & collective ideological retusa can be diagnosed forthe cod. fying legal practice ofimperaism, This would open the fed fora polit: economic and mulidscplinay ideological reinsrption ofthe irain. Be cau non fi mo on ¢cond lr of aneacton + concept ofrefusl becomes plausible here. The archival, hsonogghic isciplinan-critial, and, inevitably, interventionist work involved hse ‘indeed a task of measuring silences" This can be a desedption of savex 286 ayath Chakravorty Spivak tiating. identifying and measuring he deviation” rom an deal tha is Invest dierent. When we come othe concomitant question ofthe consciousness ofthe subalter the notin of what the work camo say becomes miporant {nthe semiones ofthe soil feat, elaborations of srgeney sang inthe lace of "ibe uterance” The sendet="the peaont-—ie marked ony as 8 pointer oan retrievable consciousness Af forthe ecelver, we mus ast either eer ofan nme, The hone, ning ieetively intended socal ae. With no posi of nos fr that lost niin, the historian must suspend (as far as posible) the camor of hi ot ier own consciousness or conslouses-fec as operated by display taining), 50 thatthe elaboration ofthe insurgency, packaged with an ine Surgent-conscousnes, doesnot rez nto an “alec of investigation or ‘worse jet a model for imitation. The subject” iid by the texts OF Insurgency can only serve a8 counterpontay forthe narative sanctions ‘ranted tothe colonial subject in the dominant groupe, The Postolonal {ntellectuts lear hat ei privilege sth ons Tn ths tey aes pred of the inet Tris well known thatthe notion ofthe feminine (rater than the subaern of imperialism) tas Seen wed in mar way within deconstruc five cram and witin ceria vanes of feminist cicsm-= In he forme ease, figure of woman Isat se, one whos minimal predation inti sea aval othe phloem aon Subater Ristonography ates questions of metho that would prevent from using Schaar or the Sigur” of woman, the relaonsip between noma 4nd sence can be plod by women temstves: ace and clan aifeences fe subsumed under that charge Subitern historogrepty must confont the impossibly of such gestures The narrow epistemic violence of im Devils gives us an imperet allegory of the general wolence tat he silly of an epsteme = Pes inthe ced erry of th blir subj, the ack of soul iene doubly faced The aon hot of al pats tion in insrgeey, oF the ground fles of the sexu division of labor FEetbour of whch there is “evidence I ix ver, thst, both at abet ob Colonial historiography and as subjot of insures, the eclogiea cone Strvcton of gender keeps the male dominant If nthe context of colonia production, the subliers hes no history nd cannot speak, the sitar as Female is even more deeply i shadow’ The contemporary interatonal division of abo is displace- ment of the divided field of hinetcent-centry tert imperialism. Put Simply a group of counties, generally Eestworid, ave inthe postion of investing capital another group, general third-world, provige the ed for “nvesumeat, both through the comprador indigenous eaptaliets and through their il-poteted and shifting labor fore. In the interes of maintaining he ‘relation and growth of industrial capital (and ofthe coneomstant task of ‘Mdministatan within sinteeath-centary territorial immpenalism), anspor: {ation lw, and standardized education systems were cevelopedeven 25 local indusines were destroyed, land dstbution was rearranged, and raw ‘atenial was transfered tothe colonizing country. With sales deoltion, the growth of multinational capital, andthe relief ofthe admin- tative charg, “development” dacs not now involve wholesale lepsltion And establishing educational spsiems in a comparable way. ‘This impescs the gromth of consumerism inthe compradorcountnes With moder ile ‘communications and the emergence of advanced capitalist economies at the two edges of Asa, maining te international division of labor sctes to keep the supply of cheap labor inthe comprador county, “iuman labor isnot, ofcourse ntrinsialy “cheap or “expen sive." An absence of labor ws (ra issiminatory enforcement Of tea), 8 toiatarian sate (often entiled by development abd modernization 10 {he peri), and minimal subsistence requirements on the part of he worker will ensure i. To Keep this crucial tem infact the urban protean {in comprador countries must not be systematically trained tn the ology of consumerism (parading asthe plosophy of & lasles soc) tne ‘against all odds, prepares the ground for reistance through the calito, Doles Foucault mentions (FD, 216). This separation fons the colony of Consumerism is increasingly exaceried by the proliferating Phenom of fnernational subcontracting, “Unde this suategy, manufactures based developed countries subcontract the mos labor intensive stages of prove: ‘on for example, sewing or asembly. 19 the Thind Ward nations whet labor is cheap. Once assembled the multinational teumpocs the pods "under generous taifexempuions—to the developed county Instead cseling ‘theo the laal markt” Here the ink to ening in consumerism sali Snapped, “While global recession has markedly slowed trade snd investment Worldwide since 1979, international subcomtractinghas boomed. Tn thse cases, multinationals are fees to resist militant workers revolutionary pe eat an ten nomic conan ‘Gass mobility isinreasinalyletbargicin the comprador theaters [Not surprisingly, some members of indigenous dominant groups in co Drador countries, members of the local bourgeois, find the lngusge of alliance polis atractve.Ideatying with forms of resistance passe fdvanced capitalist counties 1s often of apiece with that clus bent of bourgeois istonogrephy deseabed by Rana Gus, Belief inthe plausiulty of global allance politics is prevalent fmong women of dominant socal proupe interested in “international fem= {nism inthe comprador countries. Atte othe end of the sale those most separated from any possibilty of an aliane srtong "womes, prsoners, onseriped solder, hospital patients, and homosexuals” (FD, 316) ar he females ofthe urban subproletanat In thei ease, the denial and withholing ‘of consumerism and the structure of exploitation is compounded 6) pa ‘Wacchal social relations, On the othe side ofthe international division of labor, the subject of exploitation cannot know and speak the text of etale exploitation, even ifthe absurdity ofthe nonrepresentng intelectual meling spice for er to speak is achieved. The woman i doubly in shadow, “Yeteven this doesnot encompass the heterogeneous Other, Out- ‘ide (though not completely so) the crit of the intrnaional division of labor, tere are people whose consciousness we cannot grasp if we close OF ‘ur benevolence by constructing 3 homogeneous Other ‘ering only to our ‘own pace in the set ofthe Same or the Slt Here ae subsistence farms, ‘noreanized peasant labor, the tals and the communis of 0 workers fn the steet or inthe countyside. To coalront tiem is otto Tepreseat 268 Gayate Chateavorty Spivaie (erreten) them butt lear to represent artllen) ourselves, This argu sent would tke us ino aertiqe ofa Ssciplinary antopoloey and the FRationsip between clementary pedagony and disciplinary formation, Tt ‘would also question ihe implet demand, made by itllectuals who choose naturally -ericulate” subject of opprcesion, that such a sujet come through history as 4 foreshortened mode-at production narrative “That Deleuze and Foucault ignore both the epistemic violence cof imperialism andthe interatonal division of labor would mater ess they didnot in closing, touch on thire-world iste. Bot in France i Impossible to ignore the problem ofthe ers monde, the inhabitants of he {Fstwhule French Alcan colonies Deleuze lite his consideration of the Third World to these old oeal and regional indigenous cise who ae, ideals, subltem In this contest erences fo the maintenance ofthe surplos army of labor fll into reverse-thnicsetimemaly. Since he's speaking ofthe hentage of ninetoenth-centary trtorial imperialism, his felerence 1 the ‘ationstae rather than the plbulzingceaten "French cpitatism needs {eaty «floating sigaiier of unemployment. In this prspecuve, we begin {see the unity of the forms of repression: estitons on immigration, oxce {tis acknowledged that the most ifcut and thankless jobs go immigrant brothers repression In the factories cause the French must eacquie the "ase fr increasingly harder mors the stgle agaist youth andthe repre sion of the educational system” (FD, 211-12) Ths san secepable analysis, ‘Yetit shows spain thatthe Third World can enter the resgance program ‘of an alliance politics diected against a “nndhed repression” only when it {is confined tothe third-world groups that are directly accessible tothe Fist, World This benevolent rstwortd appropriation and renserition ofthe ‘Third Worlds an Othe isthe founding ctacteree of mut tha worl {sm inthe US. human scicnocs today. Foucault continues the crtique of Marism by invoking geo. ‘gaphical discontinuity. The zeal mark of “geographical (geopolitical) cis. Contin" isthe international division oflabor. But Foucault uses he tor { distinguish between exlotaion extraction and appropriation of sips ‘alue read, the eld af Marais analysis) and domination power” stages) and to suggest the latter’s greater potential for resistance based on alliance bolts He cannot acknowledge tat such 2 monist and wnied nose fo ‘conception of “power” (methodologcallypresuppasing a Subjst-o%powet) is made possible bya certain sage in exploitation, for hie wson of Boo: ‘raphical discontinuity is peopalitcally specie to the Fit Word “This geographical discontinuity of which you speak ‘mightmean perhaps te following: as soon ay we srg fe against expltarion the proletariat wot only leads ft struale but also dees ie targets ts methous Ji places and its instruments: and to ally ones with the proletariat sto consolidate with ite postons is ‘eology, i isto tke up again the motives foe their ‘combat This means total immersion [inthe Marist, ‘rojo, Buti tis aginst paver thal one strggles then all those who acknowledge 3 intolerable can ‘ogi the srurle wherever they fad themselves andin terms of their own activity (or passivity). I en siging in this struggle that ie thtr ow, whove hice. {ves they cleariy understand and whose methods ey an determine, they enter ino the reveutionsry pk ‘255 As ales ofthe proletariat, 10 be sure, bose Dower is exercised the way itt in onde to mainia, ‘aptalist exploitation. They penincly serve te cause ofthe proletariat by fighting is those ples where they find themscives oppressed: Women, prisoners, con. tipted soldiers, Rospital patients, and homoseals have now begun a speci srl aetns the partic, lar form of power, the consrants and control that sare exercised over them. (FD, 216) ‘Thi i an amiable proram of lcaizd estas, Where pose, this of reistance isn a altematve fo, but can complement en focal ste long “Maru ines Vets stuaion enh Stascommodates unacknowedeed privileging ofthe sje Witton te oy of ideoigy ican ead to & angers spss Foucault abla thinker of powtrinsping. but he aware ness of he tpoerahiealrenserption opal doc ot ones ‘rsupposiiona ie ison n bythe reseed venice ase We ced by tat insertion and hus hip to conscldte s fte Rese {be omission ofthe fat inte flowing pase, tat he sew mete of power ithe sevenienh and erin Sates tes ene Supe value without exsareonomie scram ffs Mand eee feiued fy mean of tear peas” he Eath od eos “hewhore: The presen of ovetegaiy eee ete ‘inthe vensath and ehtenh conus se here ieee important phenomenon, the emerpene, or ihe ie jveton nea ‘ethan of power posse af igh speale produ eines Thich i ao, cee, absolutely thomas tk eee SEAN, This sew mechan of powers more dependent use ens SSIS oe ea are th Hecate of lind spc reading the frat ne of “pogaphicl sqm Fowct cn rain npe out oo end nee mia decades of our own cent idenning simply Sete af Fascism andthe deine of Saini” (ER 8), se a aes Bee aerate view “it was ae te gota loi of cnmiererausee Vise which created condos forthe psec econ eset {ee of chased Alani imperaim uner Ameios meson ‘ mult-nation] altar itegaton under te sepan of oles ura the USSR which prcedd and gutenedneimuspentng of ke mor caps economies, taking owiehe nox eek ‘eval iberaism which flowered btwece 1836 eel BS is within the emergence of this “new mechanism of power” {iat we must ad he faton melon anes ti sans Wea "omit he emphasis on cones ike powcr tad dee hs mgr Imig. Davis conics “Th guasahsloit eataleanenr ey oe {ede miliary power bythe United Stats was to ow ay aed ee Mex obordinancy ois papal saps Ta paren eae 20 ‘Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak ‘accommodating to the residual imperialist pretensions of the French and Bitsh with each keeping up a siden ideological mobiestion agaist communism all the while.” Whe taking precutons against sush uaaty notions as “Erance,” it must be sid tht such unitary notions athe work stop," or such unitary pronouncements as ike power. resianse fs ‘multiple and can be integrated in global strategie” (PR 133), seem tees ‘retableby way of Davis's naraive Im not suggesting as does Paul Bove that “for a displaced and homeless peopl [the Palestinians) assed stanly and culturally. question euch st Foucaul’ 1 cnpage a polis sto ty 1 know withthe sreatest possible honesty whether the revo: dukion is desta a footsh luxor of Western wealth == Tamm sunserany, Father, hat (© buy a self-contained version ofthe West is To ignore 13 ‘roduction by the impenlist prjeet ‘Sometimes it scems as ite very biliance of Foucault’ analysis, libs gus of Eee impr rots» miss eso af {at heterogeneous phenomenom. management of space—but by dostom evelopment of administrations~but in avium, considerations of the ne, ‘pier but in tems ofthe sane, prisoners and chien. The lin he ‘slum, the prison, the university em tobe sreenalegores hat ore loses reading ofthe broader naraivesofipeiisn. (One could open 4 similar disession ofthe ferocious motif of “Getertorisizaion” sn Des leuze an Guattart) “One can peracly well not alk about something be. ‘use one doesn't know about i," Font might murgiur (PR 60. Yet Ie have already spoken ofthe sanctioned ignorance that every entic Of impels mnt chart (Qa the general level on which USS. aademics and students ake “influence” ftom France, one encounters the following understanding: Fos, aul deals with real history, real politics and real sal problems, Bera is ineceasble,esotrie, and textual, The reacer 1s probaly well oe qainted with tis received idea. "That [Dertid's] own worke™ Tor Eos Feton writes, “has ben poslyuahistorea) polticlycvasin and is pes lee oblivious to language as ‘scours’ Hague in function] hot fe 6c seid aon fet 0 fo eum Foe iy of “dete rates." Perry Anderson conseucte a reise isin “With Dera he Selfcancallation of siructutelism latent ia the recourse to music of macy 'm Lévi-Strauss or Foucault is consumed. With no commmment ee loation of social reales at all, Derrida had ile compunction i undong, the constructions of these two, convicting them both of ¢ “nose ot ‘figs —Rousseauesque or pre-Socat, respectively and asking what ht ‘ther ato assume, on thei own premises, the validly of ther de ‘This paper is committed tthe notion thst, whether in defense of Derrida of not, 2 nostalgia for los origins can be Getrmental ithe ‘xploation of social realities within the crague of impestalism nde, te brilance of Anderson's misreading doesnot prevent him fom seins pres ily the problem T emphasize m Foucault "Foucault struck the arse tenscally prophetic note when he declared in 1966 "Man isin the proces of peishing asthe Being of language continucs to shine ever more brightly ‘pon our Horizon’ But who isthe we" to perccve or posses much hoe 201rizon?™ Anderson doesnot se the encroachment ofthe unsknowledged Subject ofthe West he lter Foucault 2 Sujet that presides by dice vowal He sees Foucaultsattnude in the deal way, asthe dissppexance Of the knowing Subject as such: and he ferther sete in Dern the final ‘development ofthat tendencs In te hollow ofthe pronoun [we hes the ‘porisf the programme" Copside,fnsiy, Suid plangnt aporise ‘hich betrays'a profound misapprehension of the noton of “textual “Demid's erica moves us io the text, Foucault's i and out ‘ave ted to aru thatthe sobsantve concern forthe politics ofthe oppressed which often sesouns for Foucault's appel can de ¢ Drvieging ofthe intllesual and ofthe “concee” subject of oppression {hatin fey, compounds the appeal. Conversely though is ot ne: ‘on hereto counter the specie view of Denia promoted by thee af ail writer, will discuss afew aspects of Derian's work tat retain 8 Jongterm sefuines for people outa tbe Pint World. This not spology. Dernda is ard to read: his real objet of investigation ts Cassical Pllosoniy Yet he i less dangerous when understood than the Bstworid Fntelectual masquerading as the absent nonreprescner who ie Ie Op Dressed speak for themselves, Twill considera chapter tht Derrida composed twenty years ag: “Of Grammatology As 2 Pootive Science” (OG, 1693). In th chapter construction” can lead to an adequate practice, whether eel or polite! ‘The question it how to keep ibs ehnceeatie Sue rom xine el elvely doing a8 . This snot propa forthe Subject sy such: ater tis program for the benevolent Wester itllecwal For those of us who fel tbat te “subject” has history end that theta ofthe fret- world suet of knowl. cee in our historical mament i o resist and crfque “recognition” of te ‘Third World through "assimilation "this specie serve. In order to advance a factual rather than a pathetic ergue ofthe European intel {ual ethnocentric impulse, Deda admits that he cannot sok the “Ast questions that must be answered to establish te grounds of his argument. Hre does not declare that armmatoloy can “rise above” (Frank Lente. ‘chia's phrase) mere empiricism: for, hike empincisay, it ctrmot ask st ‘guestons. Derrida thus aligns "armatoiopel” knowledge withthe same ‘Problems as empirical iavesteation. “Deconsructon” isnot theefore¢ gor fo sk deaticaton "cepa nsion in] shelter inthe eld of grammatologial knowledge” obipes “op- ‘ring] through examples * (00.73). “The examples Derr lays Out show the limits ofgramma- tology as a positive science-come fom the appropriate eoiogca se jantication ofan imperialist project. Inthe European seventeenth cena, he wits there were te Kids of "prejudices" operating in histories of ‘wing which constituted “symptom ofthe esis of European conscious. fest (OG, 79 the “theolopel prejadic” the “Chines pejsice and the “*hleroyphist prejudice" The nt cin be indexed af God wre & ‘Primitive or tural scripe Hebrew or Greek. The second, Chinese & Beret blueprint for pulosophicl wring, but sony 2 blvepint, Trot ailorophical writing is “independent with reearé to history” (0G, 79) nd wil ublte Chinese into an casyoearn script that wil supersede sctual Chinese. The tir: tht Egyptian scp s foo sublime toe dei 292 Gayetr Chakravorty Spivak phered. The frst prejudice preserves the “schualty” of Hebrew or Greek; the astro ("ational” and "mystial" respetivey) colle to support the first where the enter ofthe logos Soon a the Tudec-Chritian Cod he appropnati of the Hellenic Other through assimilation i ane sor))= predic” still sustained infos to giveth cartography ofthe fudaco- ‘Chnsan myth the satus of eeopoliical history The concept of Chinese writing thus functioned as « sert of Eivopean hallucination. This functioning ‘obeyed a rigorous necssity.-", Te was aot disturbed bythe knowledge of Chinese script which was then avalable... A “hieroglyphs prj” tad pro {luced the sie ect of ees bine Fat fons proceeding fom elomocentse scor, the occult: tion takes the form of an hypertolicl admiration, We have not finshed demonstrating the necessity ofthis pater Our cenary not fe fom i ech ie that Ethnoceaussm s presiatty and osienatiousy te ‘ered some effort seatly hides behind all the spec: tuculr effets to consliate an inside and'to draw from it some domestic Benet (0G, 80; Deri fa icles only “hieroglyphist prejice") Derrida proceeds to oer two characterise possibilities for s0- lutions tothe problem ofthe European Subject, which seks to produce at (Other that would consolidate an aside is ov suber statue What follows Is an account of the complicity between writin, the opening of domestic nd civil society, and the sructures of desire pune, and epialization ‘Deri then discloses the verily of hit own deste to conserve some ‘hing that, paradoxically, oth snesble and nontranscendeatal. In co ‘gue the production of the colonial subj, this iefale,nontanscen- ‘ental historical) place is cathected bythe abate sub. ‘Dem closes the chaper by showing apn thatthe project of. grammatology is obliged to develop within the iosurse of presence 8 ‘ot just‘ entique of presence but an auarenes ofthe iearary of the discourse of presence in one's own ertgue, 8 riglance precisely psn oo teat clam for wansparenc. The word writing” ast name ofthe ote Sind model of rammatology Isa practic “only within the historical loss, ‘hat Is to say shin the limit of ence and philosophy" (OG, 93). ‘Derrida here makes Nietescnean, philosophical, and poyhoan- lytic, her than speeifcaly politica, choses 1 suggest a atique of Eu Topean ethnocentrism in the constution ofthe Other At 2 poscslonia Intellectual, Tam not toubled that he doesnot led me (at Europeans Inevitably seem to do) to the specie pat that sich a ertgue make nee sary, It is more important to me that, a.4 European philosopher, he ‘ecules the Enropean Subject’ tondenc to constitute the ter 38 mar Binal to ethnocentrison and loates hat a the problem with al logocentrc nd therefore aso all grammatelogical endeavor (since the main tests OF {he chapter ithe complicity between the two). Nota general problem, but 4 Buropean problem. Tes within the context of this etnocentiity that he ties so desperately to demote the Subject of thinking or knowledge asto sy that “thought is... the blank part ofthe text” (OG, 93); that which 55 thought i i bank, sl che tent and snus be consigned fo the Ober ‘of history. That inacessibe banknese eseustsred by an interpretable textis whata postcolonial cri of imperialism would like to see developed ‘within the European enclosure she place ofthe production often). Fhe Postcolonial ents and intellectual can attenp o displace ct own po ‘Suction only by prestpposing tha txt nssbedDnkness. To render thought ‘or the thinking subjet transparent or invisible seems by conta, to ade th relentless recognition of the Other By assimilation Hein te interes cof such cautions that Derrida does aot imvoke “leting the ater) spe for himslP" bt rater invokes an “appeal 10 or “ell fo the “yuit-other™ (outatare as opposed toa self-conslaating other) of “rendering dtirous ‘that interior vice that isthe vole ofthe other ean ‘Derrida calls the ethnocentrism of the European science of writ ‘ng inthe late seventeenth and early eightoath centuries ypu of fs general crisis of European consicusnes. tis of course part ofa grestet Symptom, or perhaps the ensis self te slow arn from feudalism toca Salim vie the first waves of capitalist imperiaim, The itinerary of fee ‘ognition through assimilation ofthe her can be more interestingly traced, 5 seoms to me, inthe imperialist constution ofthe colonial subject that tn repeated incursions into psychoanalysis ort agus" of woman though ‘the importance ofthese two interventions thin deconstruction should tot ‘be minimized: Deda has not moved (or perhaps cannot move) into that Whatever the reasons for this specie absence, what Ind useful 4s the sustained and developing warkon the mechanic ofthe consign of the Other, we can use it to much greater analyte and interventions ‘vantage than invocations ofthe authenticity of the Other On this evel, [Nhat remains useful in Foucault the mechticr of dscipinarzation and ‘gsuulonaliagon, te constitution a twee of te cone. Fost oes not reine it to any version, cal or late, proto or pos of meron ‘They are of great usefulness to inellectais concerned with the decay ofthe ‘Wert ‘Teir seduction for them, and fearfulness fr s,s tha cy might allow the complicityof the invesisating subject (hale or female profes Sonal) to disguise et in eanspareny. wv Can the subaltern speak? What most the elite do to watch out {for the continuing construction of the subalter? The question of woman sgems most problematic inthis context Clearly, if you sre poor black, at ‘Emale you getit in thee ways. 1, howover this formulation saved fom {he frstword context into the postcolonial (which isnot identi with te ‘Bindeworld) context, the description “bisck" of "of color" loses persuasne signfcance. The necessary stratieation of colonial subjetconsiion 1s Se ea of api pera mths lo kn an ce ‘Spatory signifier, Contonted by the eocous standardizing benevolence of most US. and Wester European human scientific radicalism eco ‘on by assimiltion), te progesive though heterogeneous withdrawal oF ‘cnsumersm in the comprador periphery, and the excision of the margins ‘of even the centerperphry articulation (the “true and Giferentil subal- tern") the analogue of class-consciousess rather than race-cascioushes 204 ‘Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak in this area seems historically, disciplinanly, and practclly forbidden by Restand Lf ale ICs hot ja question ofa done docomet its not simply the problem ot ning « peychoanaly allenory fat at secommodate the third-world woman withthe fest ‘The cautions Ihave just exposed are valid only if we are spake ing ofthe subalter woman's consciousnessor, more accep, sibees Reporting on, or better sil prtciatns in antiseuist work among woaen of olor or women in class oppression in the Fist World or the Thin’ Wood 's undeniably on the agenda, We should also veleome all he information retrieval in these silenced areas that staking place in aniropolony. Palio) ‘iene, history, and sociology Vet the aesumption and consieiceon of Conscious Sbjct usta ach work and wilt ang ran cohere with the work of imperialist subjecceonstitution, mingling epierc oor lence withthe advancement of earning and civilization: A the salen, ‘woman Wil boas mute as ever In so fraught field tis not easy to ask the question of the consciousness ofthe subaltra woman it i thus all he mone acceso ‘ind pragmatic aticals tht sucha question snot an idestat ed eins ‘Though al feminist or asses projects cannot be ede fo ths oe ‘anor its an unacknowledged pola gesture that has «lone history ead ‘collaborates with s masculine redicaliser that renders the place of the ioe ‘estar Wansparen. In seeking to ear to speak t (athe tha nea to oF speak for) the historically mused subject ofthe subalera woman, the Postcolonial intelectual sstemacialh “unleaene™ mele pivege, Tis ‘Systematic unlearning involves learing to entigue postslonaldsourse ‘ith the best tools an provide and ot simply substituting ie os gue ofthe colonized Thus, toueston the unqestoned muting the soblers onian even within the antrimpenalist project of baler sic tae 4s Jonathan Culler suggests, to "produce diferente by dering" orto "ap Deal. 0 @ sexual dently defined ss xsental and privileges experiences sociated ith that tdi Culler’s version ofthe feminist project is posible within wnat Elizabeth Fou-Genovese has called "the contibution ofthe boracn-lear, (tte revolutions tothe social and politcal individualism of worsen ‘Many of us were obliged to understand the feminist projets Clee om Aeseibesit when we were sill agitating as U.S academica™ Iwas cetaialy ‘necessary stage in my own education in "unlearhing™ and hat concn) ‘he bli that the malnsteam project of Westrnfeminis® both consis nd displaces the battle over the gh to individual sm between women eee ‘en in situations of upward cass mobiity. One suspects that he debts ‘eteen US. feminism and European “theory (es theory is pnetaly seks ‘sented by women from the Unite States or Britain) cecpie a sgaibcast ‘pier of that very tran, Lam generally sympathetic wih the cll o make US. feminism more “theoretical” It seems however that the prblegs ot the muted subject ofthe subaltem woman though rol solved by as ea, Sentilist search for lost origins, cannot be served by the call for more theory in AnglovAmeria iter ‘That call is offen given inthe name of critique of “positivism,” hich i seen here as identical with “esentnmn™ Yet Hegel the modern Jnaugurtor of "the work ofthe negative,” was nota stranger fo the notion of essences, For Mary, th curious persistence of essentials within te 296liao was a profound and productive problem, Thus the stringent binary ‘opposition between positivism essential (ead, US} and “theory” ead, French or FrancoGerman via Anglo-American) may be spurious. Apart fom represing the ambiguous complicity between essentials ander ‘ue of pos acnoweded by Dera n “OF Garimataog As tive Science”) itso ers by implying that positivism i nota theory. This move allows the emepence of & proper name, a postive een ‘Theory. Once again, the poston of the investigator remains unquestioned. ‘And, i ths tentorial debate Turns toward the Third Word, no change in {he quetdon of method ts to be discerned. This debate cannot Take nt sccount that, in the ease of be woman as subalter, no ingredients forthe ‘constitution ofthe itinerary ofthe tie of sexed subject ean be gathered to locate the possiblity of distmination ‘Yet I remain generally sympathetic in aligning feminism with the etigue of postivism andthe defehiztion ofthe concrete Tam aso far fom averse to learing from the work of Westem theona though T hive learned to Insist on marking thelr postonality as investigating su Jets, Given these condivons, anda itray ent, Liactcaly sonffonted the immense problem of th conscowsncrs ofthe woman subaltem.[ ‘invented the problem in a sntence and transformed ie ino the ober of 4 simple semious. What does this sentence mesa” The atalogy hee is ‘between the ideological vietimization fs Fred and the postonaliy of ‘the postcolonial inallecsal as ivetgting subject. ‘As Sarah Kottan has shown, the deep ambiguity of Freud's use ‘of women asa seapenet is reaeton formation oan inital and continuing (este to give the hysterc 2 votce, to uansform her into the bj? of Inystria. "The masculinesmperalistidelogcal formation that shad tat este into “the daughters seduction is part af tbe same formation tht ‘constructs the monolithic “third-world woman.” As postcolonial ntllee- ‘ual, Tam infuenced hy that formation ae well Bait of ur "unlearning™ project so articulate that ideological formation by measuring ences if feces) —into the obj of iavesugtion. Thus, when confronted withthe ‘uestions, Can the sobaltem speak? and Can the salem (ee woman) Speak ou efforts 10 ive the sualtem a voice im hisory wil be doubly ‘pen to the dangers ran by Freud's course. As product ofthese on siderations, have put togetier the sentence “White men ae saving brown ‘Nomen ffom brown me" in. sprit aot unite the one to be encountered in Freud's investigations ofthe sentence “A shld is being besten ‘The use of Freud here doesnot imply an isomorphic analogy ‘beeen subjectformation andthe behavior of soil eollstive, a freavent practice, often acompaniod by a rlerence to Reich in the coaversation between Deleuze and Foucault. So lam not rigging that "White men 4are saving brown Women fom brown men” isa sentence indicating col lect tntasy symptomatic of a colecive itinerary of sadomasochistc repression ine colctive imperialist enterpeise. There i satis fing m= metry in such am allegory, but 1 would rater init the reader t consider ita problem in "wild psychoanalysis" than cinching solution Just a3 Freud’ insistence on making the woman the scapegoat ia "A cud i being ‘eaten and esewhore discloses his piel interests, however unperfety 0 my inssence on imperialist subject reduction asthe ocasion for hi Sentence dsclores ny politics CQayae Chakravorty Spivak Further, Iam atempling to borrow the general methodological sura of Freud's sategy toward the sentence he consrted a Seence {ut ofthe many smi subatantve accounts his patents gave him. This Aocenot mean wil ofr aca of transference nana aan omorpbie ‘toa! for the ansation between reader and text (ny sentence) The {py between transference and erry eicam or hstoogapy i 0 more thin s productive cstacrenis. To say thatthe subject isa text does ot ution the converse pronouncement: the vera text 2 subj. a cnet how ead peat # try of repression that produces the fal sentence. 1 4 history with a double ‘gin one hidden inthe ares ofthe aft the oter lodged in our calc past, assuming by implication 3 preosginary space where human nd animal ere not Set dftrenaatad" We are driven fo impose a hom. ‘logue of this Freudian sate on the Marxist avrave to explain the ‘ological disimulaton of imperialist polideal economy and outline 2 story of repression that prodaces sentence ike the one Ihave sketched “Thistisior ase hava double org, onetiden nthe saneuverngs behind the Bits abolition of widow face in 1829 the ober led in the {lascaland Vee post of Hinds lia, the R-Veda and the Dharmasstra ‘No doubt her is eo an undierentated preovisinay space shat suppams ‘hs history "ine sentence Ihave constructed is one among many dsplace- sents describing the reltionship between row nd white en Gometimes ‘row and white women worked nt akes is place among some seateaces tt hyperbolic sdmurstion” or of pows guilt thet Dernda specks of incon Sesion with the *hierogyphist peace” The rlaonship between the [Imperialist subject and the subject of imperialism is atleast ambiguous. "The Hindu widow asorns the py of the dead husband and immolaeshesef upon i Thief widow serie (The conventional Scrption of the Sanaket word forthe widow mould besa. The eat colonial Bish anseribed It site) The nic was ot practed universal and was not cates orcassined. The abolition oft hte bythe Bish has been {snealy understood asa case of "White men saving brown Women fom {Srown men" White women-fom the ainetcatheentary Beth Mission” ary Registers to Mary Daly “hve not produced aa ateruaive understang in. Ayaint tis is te Indian native argument, parody ofthe nostalgia for oat ogi The women actualy want t die "The two sentences po along way to lestimize cach other. One never encounters he testimony of the womens voice consciousness. Such {Tesimony would not be idcology-ranscenden or ful” subective, of “ours, burt would have constuted the ingredients for producing coun {Sremience, Arone gos down the grotesquely misransrbed nants of these ‘women, the sueriiced widows inthe police reports included inthe records ‘ofthe Eax India Company, one cannot put opether a "voice." The most ‘ne can sensei he immense heteropeney breaking trough even such a SKeietal and ignorant acount (ene, for example, ate regulary desenbed 4s es) Feed mith te locally iteriockng sentenees that are con- Stroctie as “White men are saving brown women from brown men” and ‘The women wanted to die" the postclnial woman intellectual asks the ‘question of simple semfosi--What does this meanfand begins to plot 2 istry‘To mark the moment when not onl civil but good society 4s bom out of domestic confusion, singular evens that beak the ete of the law fo isl its spint are often invoked. The protection of women by ‘nea aien provides such an event we remember that the Beh bocsted their absolute cquty toward tad nonitcttence wth aaute costo fay, an invocation ofthis sanetioned transgression a he ete or he sake ofthe spit maybe readin]. M. Deets remark. “The very st elton ‘pon Hindu Law was card through without the asent of angle Hind ‘The legislation is not named heres The nex sence, where the measure is named is equally intresting if one consiers the implations of he survival a coloilly established "god" society afer decgonsaton “The ‘Rearence of in independent Indias probaly an obser eval ‘which cant long survive even in very backwet ptt ofthe county." ‘Whether this observation is corrector not, what iret i that the protection of woman (oday the shidcword woman") becipes¢ sz: re aban of fod sy ch ut at che Buative moments, transees vere fealty ov cat of gl po) ths Fariculr cae the procs so signed the redchnton ofa Gane of Fad been tolerated, known or adult ss riual. In oer word his one stem in Hind law jumped the oar betwen the peated the pubis Although Foucault’ historical narrative, focusing solely on West- erm Europe, ses merely a tolerance forthe crm antedetng the devel ‘opment of riminology inthe late eighteenth century (PK) ha heortcal dserition ofthe “episere” is pernent bere: "The epitome the “ap paras” which makes posibe the separation mot ofthe te fro the fale, ‘ut of what may aot'be characterized as tiene” (PR: 197)-riual ‘opposed to crime, the one ued by superstition, the ober by Ip scence, “The leap of tee trom pavate to publichas aces and complex telationship with the changeover from a mercantile aad commetcal fo ermal sd amiss Bah pens canbe flowed in coe ‘espondenoe among the police station, tbe lower and higher Court the cours of directors, te prince regents cout andthe like {lt is interesting 10 note tha, toa the pint of view ofthe native “colonial subject” sso merge from the feudalsm-capitalism tention, stl ea signer wih the reverse Social charge: “Groupe rendered poychologialy tapi by their exposure to Wester impact. had come ender pressure to de, ‘onstrate, to other as well sto themseves, their tual purty and allegiance {o traditional high culture To many of them sat! became an important proof oftheir conformity to older norms sta time whe hese noth had ‘Become shaky wihin™) 1 his the Gist historical origin of my soatence tis evidently Jost in the history of humankind as works the sory of east expansion, the slow freeing of ibor power es commodity, that native of he mes gf production, the ransicion fom feudalism via mercanlism to capitalism, Yet the precarious normatvity of tis nurative is sutined 6) The pul {vel changeless stopgap ofthe "Asiatic" mode of production, which steps nto sustain it whenever it might become apparcat tht the sry of api Jog isthe tory af he West, thi imperalsm establishes the eneeray the mode of production narrative that o ignore the suber Today Is Wwily-aly, to continue te imperialist project The ongin of my Sentence 298 ‘Gayati Chakravonty Siva fs thus lst inthe sul Between other more powefl discourses, Given thatthe aboltion ofa wasn admirable poet wonder {fa perapuon ofthe engin efi semence might conten eremonit ss? Poms mperaan’s image as the etalser of the god society is snaked by the capo offs woman a8 ja of protein rm he xm ind. How should one examing the dimimulaon of petrarcal sae, frich apparently ens te woran fe eholce a ube In oter words Tow dott one mike the move ftom “Briain to "Hinduism? Even The ‘Scop shos fat npg nt ental wih cremate ude sgunst people of color. To approach this question, I wil ov [ely on the Dhasat the sustaing ror and the Reda (Grace Knowledge) They represent the arate orga im my homology of Fred, Of cous, my teamen i not exis readines ae rather, ints and neg canine ya praia oman, of ‘ncaton ot repensionssonstrctd countemaratie of womans son: Sciovmese thus wom’ beng, thus woman's being good, thu he good ‘Soman’ dese ths woman's dre, Paradoxically athe same tne we ‘mer tbe anfaed ple of woman ab sir ite Inscription of the {oct india The fo moment inthe Dharmasatra that Xam interested in are the discus on nce under andthe ate ofthe mes forthe rads Fmmed in hee wo discourses the sefsmmelatin of widow eens Svescpunn ote The pera spl oon nt ae Teprhenable Room i made, however, fo ceri forms of sli {S"Tormulae pertormance lowe the phenomenal tent of ine suede $F tt cegry of sanoned suena out of famapan, or the Iowiadps of tut. Here the knowing sabetcomprehnds the nubs {iy oper seennaliy (es may bese es seen ‘metaln) of enya cera pout nett mes eps rina you but ven without that, var is Uabess or guid. Thus ‘his enlightened a trly knows the “that nes oft dey. Hs demo Ibs sy nv aaah king fi sal). Te pedo cof knowing of the limits of knowledge is tat the Songs asso 0 Seency 1onezate he possity of agency, cannot bean example of ell ‘Gitovaly enous, the selFsneiice of goss sanctioned by natural ecology, {seu forte working ofthe economy of Nature andthe Univer, rahe Th by slekaowtedge. In his loa amtecor sags snbied by 2s father tan human ben of hs prc cain of Gxpicements, se nd sacice(dmaghite ané amading scr ss ile Gist aan ine {Evo ef inowldge) and an “exteror”cclos) sanction. "This plop spe, However, dow not acvommodats the scitimmolating woman For bern look whee oom I ade to sanction Sidr ht esnnor cam trahLaowicdge a nt that a any rate ESsiy vera and bongs inte tea fsa (what wae en) Pathe {han oni (whats emembered). Ths enepn othe oneal ule sbout Sia anal the penomenal ety of stemmolaton i pecormed in fernin paces rater thon na cet sae enlightenment. Thus, ve move fom an inerorsancton (ruth-knowlge) to an exteror one (aace Sf pitas Ins possible ors woman opeorm tity of anny" 299‘Yet even this is no the proper place forthe woman to annul the ropes name of sulide through the destruction of Ber proper sell. For her fone s sanctioned slfmmolston ona dead spouse's pyre (The few mae txamples ced in Hindu antiguty of selimmolaion on anothers ste, being proofs of enthusiasm and devotion t 4 ase or superior, reved te ‘Structure of domination within the nite). Ths suicide that is ot suicide iy be read ata simulacrum of both tuh-knowedge and pet of place ‘fede former, itis asif the knowledge a subject of ts ova substantial tnd mere phenomenal 8 dramatized ao thatthe dead husband Becomes the exterorized example nd pine ofthe extinguished subject andthe widow becomes th aoa)epent who acts itout "Ife late, is asi the mctonyn forall sacred places is now that burning Bed of wood, consirucie by a ‘orate ual, where the woman's subject, eel displaced from herall, ic ‘ing consumed. Ii in term ofthis profound ideology of te displaced plac ofthe female subject that the parado of re eoiee comes Into pla Forte sale subject, iti the fy ofthe suicide, lic that ll anal ‘her than establish is status a5 suc, that note. Fr the female subject, ‘sanctioned sellimmolaion, even af sakes away the eect of “all” (pa {aka attached fo an unsantione suese, bigs ras forthe act of choice ‘on another epster. By the inexorable iSolopal production of the sexed Subject, such # deat can be understood by the female subject as an excep ona sais of her own desire, exceeding the general rule for a widow's conduct In certain periods and areas this exceptional rue became the general rule in a clas apecfic way. Asks Nandy seats is marked preva {ence in eighteenth: and early ninieenth-century Bengal to factors anne ‘fom population contro o communal misogyny Certainly Hs prevalence {here fn the provious centuries sas Beene in Bengal uate sewbere 1s Indi, widows eould inert propery. Thus, what the British see 9 poor itimized women going to the slaughter i in fact an iological bale: ‘round. As PV. Kato, the great historian ofthe Dharmasastra, bas coretly bbverved "in Benga (the fact that] the widow of a sonless member even {i's joint Hind familys enided to practically the same eights ove joint, ‘amily proper wich her deceased husband would nave had- must ave ‘Mequeniy induced he surviving members to petri ofthe widow by ap- pling st a aiotdistesing hour to her devotion to an love for her hs ‘band (HD IL2, 639) 'Yei benevolent and enlightened males were and are sympathetic swith the “courage” ofthe woman's fee choice inthe mater Tey Us ‘accept the production ofthe sexed subaltern subject: “Modem India docs ot justly the practice of sail but iss Warped mentality that rebukes ‘oder Indians for expressing admiration and reverence fo te col and “nfnltering courage of Indian women in bocomsing sts or performing the ‘Buhar for Cherishing tet ideal of womanly condt” (HD 2,638), What ean-Francois Lyotard has termed the "difrend,” the incesiity of or UUntanslatbity fom, one mode of discourse in 2 dispue wo another, is ‘ivi illustrated here” As the discourse of what the Betish perceive as heathen ual is sublated (out not, Lyotard would argue, translate) ito what the British perceive as crime, one dignosis of female fee wil is Substituted for another 300 Cayate Chakravorty Spivak Of course the selPmmolation of widows was not invariable st ua prescription lr However, the widow does decide thus to exceed the eter fetal, totum back na transgression for which particular ype of penance {% peocbeds* With the oon! British police ofeer supervising the mn Iilons to be dissuaded ser a decision was, by contrast, 2 mark of ral ee hoi, cove of freedom, The ambiguity ofthe potion of th indigenous ‘Blonia ste discloved in the nationalistic romantiraton of the ui, ‘Seng and love of these selfsaerieing women. The two st pices ae ‘Raniadrayath Tapore’s paca tothe sefen uacing pareral grandmothers ‘Sf Bengal and Ananda Coomaragwamy's elon’ of ste ashi ast proof tthe perfect unity of boy and soul” ‘Soviousy Tam not advocating the Liling of widows. Lam. sue- esting that within the two contending versions of eedom, the coastituion fine female subject mes e place of te difrend. In the case of widow SaFimmolation, situa enol being redefined as superstition but as cme. {The grevity of 2 wae that twas ideolopcalycathected as “reward,” JUS {tbe greniyofimperaim was tha twas ideologialy cathected 2 soc isin” Thompson's understanding of st) as “punishment” is thus far ‘off the mark ‘Te may sem unjust and illogical that the Moguls, wo Feely impaled and ayed alive or nationals of Europe, ‘howe counties had sch ferocious penal codes and Thad known, scarey a centry before sts beg (0 Shock te English conscience, oris of wteh-orning “Ene relpows persecution, should have fa they did houtsutice But the diferenoss seemed io them this ite vieumng of thelr eruties were torured by 2 law hich considered them fenders, whereas the victims Dt suttee were punished for ao aense bot the physical ‘tease which had placed them at man’s mete. The The seemed fo prove a depravity and serogance such {Soother human ofense had brought to ight All troggh the mia and late-eightcenth century, inthe sii of the codiicaton of hela, the British fo Tade calaborated an consulted ‘hit Teammed Brahnans to judge whether suze was legal by their homog- {hized version of Hinde lw. The colaboration was offen ilonyneratc 38 {S'the cae of the sigiicance of being dissuaded Sometimes, a8 im the {ener Sisine prohibition aginst the immoltion of widows wth small, ‘eluent Brtsh collaboration sams confused," In the beginning ofthe finetcenth century, the Brith authorises, and especially the Brish 0 gland, repeatealy suggested that colaboraton mage it appear asi the Brush condoned this practice. When the aw was ally wate, the history fhe long period of colaboration was eflaced, and te nguage celebrated {he moble Hinds who was against the bed Hind, the later piven to savage stoatues: “The practice of Suite. is evalting to the feling of human nate. In many instances, acts of atrocity fave been perpetrated, which nave been shocking (0the Hino themselves... Actuated by these con ‘siderations the Governor General in Counelh aout Intending to depart ffom one of the frst and mort, ‘important principes of the sytem of Bish Govern ‘ment in Inia that all classes of the people be scare inthe observance oftheir religious usges, so long = that system can be adhered to without volaton ofthe paramount dictates of justice and humanity, has Aeemed it right to establish the following rules ip ita, 2425) ‘That this was an alternative ideology of he graded sanctioning of suicide a exception, rather tan is inscription as sin was of course not Understood, Perma st should have boon read math martyrdom, with the