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GATE 2021 XH2 – Question 59

Critical Theories and Intellectual Traditions · Interdisciplinary Fields: Cultural studies, film and media studies, memory and trauma studies, Dalit and subaltern studies, environmental, medical and digital humanities · 2 marks · Multiple select

Which propositions fit Spivak’s Can the Subaltern Speak?

  1. Intellectuals seeking to speak for subaltern people can appropriate their voices.
  2. Writing about subaltern people can be mistaken for their speaking for themselves.
  3. All women are subaltern and therefore cannot truly speak.
  4. An intellectual speaking for the subaltern is equivalent to the subaltern speaking for herself.

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Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: (A) Intellectuals seeking to speak for subaltern people can appropriate their voices.; (B) Writing about subaltern people can be mistaken for their speaking for themselves.

Explanation

Spivak scrutinises representation and the institutional conditions under which subaltern speech becomes legible. A and B identify the risk of replacing another’s voice with the intellectual’s account. C erases distinctions among social positions, while D collapses the very difference being examined. Select A,B; “cannot speak” is not a literal claim that marginalised people cannot utter words.

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