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Gayatri Spivak

Critical Theory · North America · born 1942

Indian-born literary theorist, best known for her essay Can the Subaltern Speak? and her translations.

What it is

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 1942) is an Indian-born literary theorist and critic. She was born in Calcutta and has been a University Professor in the humanities at Columbia University since 2007, where she is a founding member of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.

She studied in Calcutta and took her doctorate at Cornell University in 1967. She is a member of the American Philosophical Society, and she has taught at many universities. She is best known for her essay Can the Subaltern Speak?, and she has also been an influential translator.

The main ideas

  • The subaltern. Her essay Can the Subaltern Speak? (1988) is the work she is best known for. The title poses the question itself: can the subaltern speak? It has had a large influence on postcolonial studies.
  • Translation. Alongside her own books she has translated others, among them Derrida and the Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi.
  • Strategic essentialism. She coined this term, which refers to a temporary solidarity among groups for the purpose of social action, and it is now widely used and debated.

What it looks like in practice

Imagine a researcher who arrives in a village to write about the women who live there. Spivak would ask whose words end up on the page, who chose the questions, and what the women could say that the researcher was able to hear. She would also ask what happens to a woman's own account once it is translated, summarised and printed in a language the woman may not read. This is an illustration of her line of questioning, not a passage from her writing.

Books and moments

  • Of Grammatology is her English translation of Jacques Derrida's De la grammatologie, with an introduction of her own.
  • Mahasweta Devi. She translated the Bengali writer's literary works from Bengali.
  • A Critique of Postcolonial Reason (1999) and Death of a Discipline (2003) are two of her major books.
  • Rural schooling. She has worked to promote literacy and education in rural communities, including in West Bengal.
  • She received the Padma Bhushan in 2013 and the Holberg Prize in 2025.

Questions and criticism

  • Who can speak for whom? If the subaltern is not heard, it is fair to ask what a scholar, a translator or an activist can honestly do on their behalf.
  • What counts as being heard? Hearing a voice may mean quoting it, acting on it or letting it set the terms of the work, and it is fair to ask which of these her question calls for.
  • One term, many uses. Strategic essentialism is widely used and debated, and it is fair to ask what the term should mean when so many people apply it.

Close neighbours

The pages on Jacques Derrida, whose work she translated, and on Edward Said and Frantz Fanon, show closely related questions about colonial power and knowledge.

Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 29 October 2026. The sources are listed below.

Who they connect to

Influenced by

  • Jacques Derrida · She translated his book Of Grammatology into English and used his method of reading.
  • Karl Marx · She draws on Marx's account of labour and capital to read global inequality.

Other Critical Theory thinkers

Sources we used

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