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GATE 2024 XH2 (English) – Question 59

Critical Theories and Intellectual Traditions · Theoretical Paradigms: Structuralism, Marxism, feminism, existentialism, poststructuralism, modernism, postmodernism, new historicism, postcolonialism, posthumanism · 2 marks · Multiple select

“[…] in so far as the academic discourse of history – that is, ‘history’ as a discourse produced at the institutional site of the university – is concerned, ‘Europe’ remains the sovereign, theoretical subject of all histories, including the ones we call ‘Indian,’ ‘Chinese,’ ‘Kenyan,’ and so on. There is a peculiar way in which all these other histories tend to become variations on a master narrative that could be called ‘the history of Europe.’ In this sense, ‘Indian’ history itself is in a position of subalternity; one can only articulate subaltern subject positions in the name of this history.”
Which of the following options is/are implied by the passage above?

  1. People in postcolonial societies are condemned to endlessly repeat their own histories.
  2. The histories of India, China, and Kenya are not fundamentally different from one another.
  3. Within the protocols of history writing, it is impossible to write the history of postcolonial societies without reference to Europe.
  4. Instead of Europe, India should be the sovereign subject of all histories.

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Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: (B) The histories of India, China, and Kenya are not fundamentally different from one another.; (C) Within the protocols of history writing, it is impossible to write the history of postcolonial societies without reference to Europe.

Explanation

Chakrabarty (Provincializing Europe) says that all non-European histories become variations on the master narrative of Europe (B), and that academic history cannot be written without reference to Europe (C). The passage does not say that India should replace Europe.