Subaltern Studies: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations and a Critique of the Post-Structuralist Bias

Abstract

This article presents a discussion on the meaning of the Gramscian concept of subaltern classes and groups and its use by Indian Subaltern Studies researchers Ranajit Guha and Gayatri C. Spivak. First, I elaborate a synthesis of the meanings of Antonio Gramsci's concept in its original Marxist formulation; subsequently, I present the ways in which this concept was assimilated by the Indian historian Ranajit Guha, within the scope of his original proposal for Subaltern Studies, and the post-structuralist turn undertaken by literary critic Gayatri C. Spivak, both in the direction of Subaltern Studies and in the meaning of the concept of subaltern groups. Finally, I conclude that Ranajit Guha's application of the concept demonstrates greater epistemological fidelity to the matrix of Gramscian thought, while Spivak dilutes that concept in postmodern assumptions that empty it of its original political meaning.