Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Gayatry Spikvak

    Uploaded by

    Cuerpos Insanos
    7 views22 pages
    Spivak

    Original Title

    GayatrySpikvak

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    Spivak

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    7 views22 pages

    Gayatry Spikvak

    Uploaded by

    Cuerpos Insanos
    Spivak

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 22
    sions The mack-publciaed critique of the sovereign subject thus actually [naugurates a Subject I wil argue for this conclusion by considering a text ‘by two great practioners ofthe rigue: “Intellectuals and Power: A Con- ersation between Michel Foucault and Giles Deleuze." ‘nave chosen this fendly exchange between two activist phi Josophers o history Because st undoes the opposition between authoritative {heortie production and the unguarded practice of conversation, enabling ‘one to glimpse the tack of ideology. The participants inthis conversation ‘mphasie the most important coneibutions of French postsructraist the- fon st that the networks of power/desir/interest are so heterogeneous {ai tele reduction to a coherent narrative is counterproductive~a per- neat erigue is needed: and second, tht intellectuals must attempt 0 ‘Siciose and know the discourse of society's Other. Yet the two sytem {eally ignore the question of ideclogy and their own implication in intel- Ieetual and economic history. “Aithough one of is chief presuppositions is the critique ofthe sovereign subject, the conversation between Foucaultand Deleuze is famed {By two monolithic and anonymous subjocs-in-evolution: "A Maoist” (FD. Bbspand “the workers strug" (FD. 217 Intellectuals, however, renamed 20g diferentated, moreover, & Chinese Maoism is nowbere operative, ‘Maoism here simply creates an sura of narrative specifiy, which would ‘es harmless thetoral banality were it aot hat he innocent appropriation SF tne proper name "Maoism® for the ecceatrc phenomenon of French {mullecual“Maoism” and sabroquent "New Philosophy” symptomticall renders Asa” transparent" elu referee the poke’ sae i gual probe matic; iti obviously 2 gemuilection: “We are unable to touch [power] in ny point of ts application wathout finding ourselves confronted by. ‘Tifte mas, so that we are necesarly Ie to the deste to low it wp Completely. Every pal evolutionary attack or defense is fnked in his Sey the workeestrugle” (2D, 217). The apparent banality signals © Usavowal. The stafementgnores the international division of labora es fore tat often marks poststractoralst political theory.’ The invocation of the worker struggles tefl in is very innocence; its incapable of eating (min global capitalism: the subjec-producton of worker and unemployed Gin aaton-nate ideologies in ts Center the increasing subtraction of he ‘Working class in the Periphery from the realization of surplus value and Thus few “humanist” training in consumerism; andthe largescale res ‘Ene of pracaptlist labor aswell a the heterogeneous strtural statis of Sgrcalture in the Periphery. Ignoring the intemational division of labor, ‘Eusering “Asia (and on occasion “Africa” transparent (unless the subject. ‘Fostenablythe“Third Werld”) eesublishing the legal subject of socalized ‘EGliatsthes are problems as common to much pststruturalist sto stue- {Gratis theory, Why should such occlusions be sanctioned in precisely those Intellectuals who are our best prophets of heterogeneity andthe Other? “The lnk to the worker strug is located inthe desire to blow ‘up power at any point os application. This site is apparently tased on 8 ple alonsation of any desire destructive of any power Walter Benjamin ‘Comments on Baudelaire’ comparable politic by way of quotations from, Mare GayeteiChakrevorty Spivak ‘Marx continues in his description ofthe conptratewrs {deprofession as follows". They have no other aim bat the immediate one of overthrowing the existing fpvermment, and they profoundly despise the more theoretical enlightenment of the workers as to their ‘as interest Thus ther anger—not proletarian but Dlebianat the hats nots (lack coats), the more oF [ees edocated people wh represent [verreen that side ofthe movententand of whom hey can never become entirely dependent, a they cannot of he oficial rep- fesentatives [Reprasentanen) of the party.” Baude- Inire's politcal insights do-not go fundamentally be- yond the insights of these profesional conspirators, re could perhaps have made Flaubert sstement. “OF alo polities Tunderstand only one thing: the revo.” fis own “The link wo the workers sug is locate, simply in desir ucwher, Dsewe and Gunn have sept an acraaive definition bf dae sein the one fered by papchoaalyax “Desi dos no Ick Shything does aot nck ts objec rath, he sj that ching in ose or dei hat ick «xed subj here no fed subject except i epression, Desire and is object ae unity ie the machine, a8 a Tuchine ofa machine. Des is machine, he chet of Sse also com {ted maching so ht the rodut sited rom the proces of producing, Sha somciing dts el rom prodocingo roductand gives slovet ite etbnd mad be 3 “Tis defon dors not ae the sey ofthe desiring sb (ertehover subject) that ache o specie instances of Gee oF (foducton ofthe desiring mechine. Moreover, when the connection be. Freon des and te subject ie aon alent or merely reve, the ‘Sbjct tnt sumepeicey emerges och ike the peeled ae: ‘Sopeal subject ote tort This my be he ea ube soci {Spa seth abr nor management, olin 4 "swore puspon, sing S8xrone or hard caneny, wih supposedly wnqustiond actos to dt rove it certainly not the desiring Subj a Other. “The lr of Decue and Guat to consider the rlaons Tsing a theory ofiteress In this content, the theory of which is necessary for an understanding of interests) i striking ‘but consistent. Foucault's commitment to “genealogical” speculation pre: ‘ents him from locating, in "great names” lke Marx and Freud, watersheds in some continous steam of inslectal histor" This comitment hes aed a nana essane i Fouls wrk nr telogeal caique, Western speculations onthe ideological reproduction of soil re- lations belong to that mainstream, and ti within this tadtion that ALL thunser writer “The reproduction of labour power requires not only are production ofits sil, but also atthe same time, a reproduction of i Submision to the ruling ideology Tor the workers, and a reproduction of {he ability «0 manipulate the ruling Meolopy corelly forthe agents of litton and repreion 10 ta hes, 0, wll prove fr the domi- ‘Sidon ofthe lng Ssh and by words or ls paroles "Wie Foul coat he pervasive cron of power, te doe au pues musts inital tropecy at Ao? Nereatenput scheratize Similar iaepaing of atte and see ‘igs He sats sadwarsachne Pl pleat, Dass tnd Casa fi Sra op tn ery Hs, Fuca anne owe, am at elope ety of icles secognns A own materia podacon ia SSimtielg, wl tnt seme torent fr te freon 15t eaon of tn” (Base ets cp Sin ceed oj al cpa mig ony es Seman ttn tna icy ae ety oblgd wo pede a me ‘haskalyshematcoppostton ever tet and Gsie Psy aga ‘hemeclvs wih born socldonas who fin paso logy wit consi “unconetou or prangerve cat* Te hand 1 Son Uetwen dete ond inuren erin ach peter We ove Seare ng ou ite, cae inet lays lows td dsl ee Sc as aod (213) A aires dee espa Tipoweraigeite cen tnocmch oleate power proauapatare Solana of Sean alot el knob” O39) Ta prmjeive mati ote wih Neeogeay ster in he sed Saye set or hone cca wt toes by the sew hegemony coe, The fr he a nab Sybesma power ity on Srchodar moda sity oppoe to “big ese" cology st ‘fie canacoune (ing deste) tas ten aed Into qusion by alms Ste Reh ipl nton flected Sotomy of Spon stunted xe We mist ase he em STRACK: ih mane were no oes partes enc ey Scie Bact ene (D219 Thee pba wil ont ctrain he though of cosine contradson- tat ere thy amily pat smpiny Hn the Le {S's ae cai hey mate te eds nto te Si ou of oes Fowaa en ome fons“ andthe igct on hewn nurs perp inte in is ‘Sllowers Because of the power of he word “power” Pouce amis Sing the “tapbor of he pont which popenelyimdits i ‘oungs” Sock sp ssome the ru te han te exepon in as Carlen Aad tengo snmatngan vey boca | lena te empy naoot he bet htc historia tunof te, prety mel claty"once apn the thematic ofbeingundeceved—“hey now fr beer han (he iateetun} an they crtaaiy ay ivory wel? (0.206, 307, ‘What happens to the critique ofthe sovereign subject in these ronouncement? Ti nits of th epreseataionali sels are reached - ea Ont Conary Sa with Deleuze: “Reaity i what sctally happens ina factory, ina choot, ‘in baracs, in a prison, ina police station” PD, 112) Ths foeconeg thence ofthe iia sof eounterhepemonic cologne a ht ben satay. thas ped posit empire ihe eee foundation of advanced capitalist neccolonialsmio define it oon nent a “concrete experience," what acl happens indeed, the sent Sep tran ote potas foes seis ane ni rough the concrete experience ofthe it ‘Slat te on who eon i epee Nether Dees no Est cauissemsavare hat the atest! within scaled capa bean ‘oneree experience can help consolidte he international divisierse eho “Te unvecognied contradiction within «postion th oles the concrete apeinte ofthe oppesed, vile beg 50 uncial shart the hitorkal role of the intelectual is lasing’ a versa Thus Delize mates tis remariable pronouncement “A theory Wes tox of tol. Nothing to do wth the apne" (FD. 308, Comte at the veralsm ofthe therecal word snd ts acces to any ma aot aint tas “praccal sib, such = Gocaation hee eke {ntetectual anions fo prove that inet labor us ike manual gts {tis when signer ag eto ook air themelves that were a topper heii “repent ccnp inte ae Imive fone that svers theory's bnk fo the sinter, Delcwe ne, “There i a0 more represenaion; there's nothing bur Acton Me ct theory and ation of pracce which eae to each others toaya sahara seiwora” (FD, 206-), Yet an important pointe bing made hee te rodution of iany ts also practic, the opposition between seins pur theory and concrete “apple peas too quick snd ta fis & indeed, Deeun’s argument, his rivulet off is problematic. Two snses of representation are blag rn opel resecens {ion as "speaking fo asim politic and reprexniaion ay renee ‘son "as ator philosophy Since theory abo only Saclbge ts theoresician does not represet (peak fo) the Sppresed pup. tndocs, ee ‘biel snot sen as representative concoushes (ne fepresentag ne Styadequtey) These to sens of tprventaton”wiin Rae seats 8d the lawn the one hand, and in subjection, on the Se fed ba ieducily csonnaoun. To cover ove the dcontsany ak ‘analogy that is presented as «prot refs agains paraioneal sje Bailepng. Because “ihe peron who speaks and acs is snare oe py "oo honing elec” part wea” an ‘ent those whoactand sirup" (FD, 26) Are the vboactandsnpe ‘ute, as opposed to those who act and speat (FD, 206)? These immete ‘roblems are buried in the diferences between the “same” words coe, ‘Siousness and conscience (both conscience in French), representation aad ‘presentation, The critique of ideological subject-constiution within tae formations and systems of political economy can now be eaced, as can he active theoretical practice of the “transformation of conslournese Te banality of lefts ftelectual’ isis of selfnowing, poliically canny ate aliens stand revealed; representing them, the intellectuals present thea selves as transparent. sucha eriique and such a project ae not tbe given up, the shifting distinctions between representation within the state and pohieal noe pt eo monet ta eta erat ira cere eee Sensis pieced eee et stone nhcecemneaataicunetcret Sno oee seem me ange a meen srenpahtautonnence uate hierar aeaee neers ele pees ya vacant So fbi cegemtm cama eat Tee eeemr at hmeecmna ee cairn as oy acne wk Seam a seater sone oraied escent are ieee Seeger eae ee ee corm een eae ee mega rma tice cieentcoamne maa gemma ieee aan tm are tae knee gee Sa ee eta eee Seeyoeanaoe ete fanaa ata ora aera ries ee ae (Soro ete anos a ees eon eens moneribnce eat rsatets omar ards Spee ee Bele ee tem cian om omer. at parece mete a spose pean lier oe eer cae etree rece vaina ne aaa oes ee ee bret ere a Tanta ee hare eerie ‘Mlalonsity between them, one that ha rected pocal and ideological sie ca camaro Seeecaceeasarcsometniicaepits Seeotee umetnene ee ee eee omen See Secaseisttae armen na iris armor ene aaa cre er ceranwt ory aircaie rae Soe aware tal ors Mar’ pase, wing “verter” where the Engh use veer cnet ey econ SUR eee laa (Goyati Chakrevorty Spivak ‘must be represented. Tie representative must appear simultaneously as ‘heir master, stan authonty over them, ts unrestricted governmental povet that protects them fom the ober sss and sends them rain and suche {rom above. The political nfuence {in the place ofthe Gass intrest, see there i no unied cas subject] ofthe small peasant propio: therefore finds its last expresion (the implication of a chain of sutetitutions Ver tretungenis tong ere inthe execute force [Exckutrgemall“Is per. somal Gea sboriating soi oul fot only des sucha model of socal indirection necessary bctwcen the souerof"infuenc” inthis cane the aml peasant propio), the representative” (Lous Napoleon), and he hstorcl-poltieal phenom: tenon (nective control}~imply a ertqe of the subject individual agent But ctique even ofthe subeciviy ofa collecve agen. The necssiiy ‘located machine of history moves tecause the ientty of the intrest ‘ofthese proprietors “fas oprocuce a elig of commun, national aks, {ra polttcl orpnization” The event of representation at Venretung {he consteinion of thetoricas persuasion) Behaves ike « Darstellung (or {etoricar‘rope) aking its place inthe gap between the formation ofa (Geseripive) class and the sonformation ofa (sansformative) eas n 80 {ara milons of families lve under economis condition of existence that Separate their mode off." they form a las nao fara the Wenty Of tet interests fas to produce a feling of community.” they do nt Jorma class" The comply of Verzetenand Darstelen, tei dent Giference asthe place of practices this complicity is precisely what ‘Maruists must expose, as Marx docs in The Eighteonth Bramaire-can oat be appreciated i they are not conflted by a sleight of word. ‘woul be merely tendentous fo argc that this testualizes Marx too moch, making him inaccsble to the common "man who, a tie ame nei ey aed in aera of tam at Mar icble emphasis on the Work of the negative, onthe necosity for de- {euahizing the concrete, is persistently rested fom him by the strongest “the historical treiton inthe air" Ihave boc trying to point ‘ut that the uncommon “man.” th contemporary philosopher of practic, Sometimes exhibits the same positvinm, “The gravity of te problem is apparent if one agrees dat the development ofa tratsformative clas “consciousness” fom a descriptive ‘less “pontion” is notin Mary tak engaging the ground level of con. Scloustem Class consciousness remains with the fesing of community that betongso national links and pic organizations, not that other fling (of community whose structural mode! the fay AlvBough nor tented ‘th nature, the family ere is consellated sith what Marx cals “natuea {change which’ pitosophical speaking. a "plasholder” for we value" Natural exchange is contrasted to "intercourse wih society." where the ord “inereouse" Verkey is Marxs sual word for "commerce This "trcourse" thus lds the place of the exchange leading the production cf srps value and itis in he area of his intercourse thatthe feeling of community leading o class agency mast be developed. Full clas agency Gt there were such a thing) Is not an ideological transformation of conscious ‘oss onthe ground level, a desiring entity ofthe agets and their interest the identity whose absence toubles Foucault and Deleuze. 1 iss cones: tatory replacement as wells an appropriation (a supplementation of some. thing tha artifical” to tin with—"econoic conditions of existence {Ring hat he node of Mas formulations show a enutous fe a ea son rig findivigual an collie subjeciv agency te cmoumes and ofthe ansermaton of cmc. Tae Oa ee or him, Contes, comemporay vec Tea ee anor and esate eirminng meres comm qi te brat polis othe opprsed (wer socialized capita Sit ve emcee roe the caepry Of he Sovereign suet ‘whine theory tnt eins mont aves ene extuson of he fly bit afi belonging to a sects sas formation prof be mucaine fame matin which Ha ee seta tink Historical ae wells todays Boal pole Me Th fam ree in patiarcha soca reitions isso heteroeencovs Sn rely replacing the tml im ts problematic i no Ba ete eae Nor dosh ston le nthe postition se eer cae) af aomen inthe lint of he oppesed who oa ona ony alow thw 10 speak fr thomuelves ans a0 Sainiy moncttae sane gem." Troma of ihe development of a sate cial and seconde) Stonsoumnes" Mars vo ihe concept ofthe pean “iprihnhe bondrconept representation as Veetung The sal Site "a ire ce of aig ct et Sen Rae fn eigenen Namen) wether ough al Ta throughs conentons he aber af he nota ria att oo issued by the only proper name “aston sao rcp ie paronync iil Name ofthe Faber Hi wat adidon reduced he French pspan belie that a mirace would ee tach named Napoleon woud Testor all he gay. And a2 Sa ee he uneanaabie "es fand ch” (ee found Invalid Pans qoeions of agency orth ape conneton 25 adil ete haf ut to eat mans reteset Meanrasc Rs onl oper ager) "bene be cared [rie ward LST eat to canal te Napvoni Cae, hin ‘Saual subuety ofthe passage Ii the Law ofthe Father (the Napoleonic ‘GSa5 that perdoxically prohibits the search forthe natura father. Thus, | $0SeLeonie to a srt observance ofthe historical Law ofthe Father that the formed yet unformed clas's faith in the natura ater is gains. have dwelt 30 long on this pasage in Marx because it spells + | out the inner dynamics of Verrewng, or representation in the political ‘Sonu Representation in the economic context is Darsteluns, the pilo- concept of represeataton as staging o, indeed, signification, which eBtes wo te divided subject in an indirect way. The mos obvious pasage {Swell known "inthe exchange relationship /4ustauschverhlii] of com ‘odiies tir exchange-value appeared 10 us totally independent of thei Ghovaloe Bu ive subiact their use-value fom the product of labour, we ‘ora their valu, a it was just determined (destin). The common ele ‘ent which represents ite (ich davtli in te exchange relation, oF the xchange value ofthe commodity, is ths is value" eee picca Sean ee eee ee ore ne ie Saat at coreouaes oes ere ea ce ge ee Sol rerio nee ees Senclalemescteet ote" Sentara! es eee ee ce eS ae reece ee oe Sie goer uty saba ie ery nel ee Soe a reiees eoecara etre ee eee ee ae SA a ap tne aceure ie tei are a eee es es, Lee ee ee ‘Shruti mitsobpealy sad ohen eatical opt the crest Se ge ie eer Soe eee eee etree one ae ar a aie ee ee a ae ee as ae a rer ae Soe cee ee Se i ere a a are ere eee ears a ents erie ee es ee cos ea Soe eee en Serpe See Ra ae oe a ea see ieee ee Seapets aac ac naae See nak cen ee ae oe Se ea ee Soa yeast wiatt ken nied eee oes ce 6 er eee eee see Saris es eee oe ae Sere ea pees agp eee eee eS See SG een i es races ee ae ee caren a ee ee ee ae er eae ‘vehement denegation: “Now this role of referee, judge and universal witness rose which Tabvoligely ruse 10 adopt One responsibility of the crite ‘Sight be to read and wit <0 thatthe impossibility of such interested Jpaividvalistic rfsals of the institutional privileges of power bestowed on {he subjet tac seriouly The refsal ofthe sign-system blocks the way {oa developed theory of ideology. Here, on, the peculiar tone of denezation fs hear. To Jacques-Alain Miles suggestion that “the institution i ite ‘iscursve." Fouezlt responds, "Yes, if you like, bt it doese’t much mater {ormy notion ofthe apparatus wo beable to say tht this is discursive and {hat aot. given that my problem ina linguistic one” (PK. 198). Why {his condition oflenguage and discourse ftom the master of discourse anal- vss? Edward W. Said’ critique of power in Foucault a a captivating and mystifying category that allows him "to obliterate the role of lass, {he rok of economics, the role of insurgency and rebelion,”s most pertinent here?" 1 add to Said’ analysis the notion of the surreptitious subject of and desire marked by the ansparency of te intellectual. Curiously hough, Paul Bove faults Said for emphasizing the importance of the i- ‘lcetal, wheres "Foucault's project essentially isa challenge the leading Teic of bath hegemonic and oppositional intellecuals”™ have sugested {hat thin “challenge” is deceprve precisely because It ignores what Said ‘aplasiecy—the critic ineitutonal responsibly “Fais S/aubject, curiously sewn together into a transparency by denegations, belongs 1 the exploiters ide of the intemational division of {Soar Ts inpossibe for contemporary French intelletual o imagine the Kind of Power and Desire that would inhabit the unnamed subject of the ‘Other of Europe It isnot nls that everything they read, eical or uncritical, ‘Senught within the debate ofthe production ofthat Other, supporting of ‘Sskgting the constitution ofthe Subject as Europe. Its aio that in the ‘Snoututon of tat Other of Europe, great care was iaken to obliterate the ‘Graal imredicns with which such a subject could cathect, could occupy (Giveney Se Sunerary_not only by ideological and scientific production, but Gtoby the institution ofthe law. However reductonistc an ezonomic anal Jebinlght seem, the Pench intellectuals forget a her peril that this entre WRerdeirmined enterprise wat in the interest of 2 dynamic economic sit ‘aon requiring that interest, motives (Gesres), and power of knowledge) berrublenly disiocated. To invoke that dislocation now asa radical dis- ‘avery that should make us diagnos the evonomic (conditions of existence ‘hat Seperate out "elases” descriptive) as apiece of dated analyte ma- ‘hiner may wellbe to continue the work ofthat dislocation and unwittingly {e belp in securing "s new talance of hegemonic relations." bal eum {ths argument shortly. Inthe face ofthe possibilty that the intelectual Io Shing in the perastentconrifuion of Other a the Self shadow, 3 possi of politcal practice fr the intelectual would be to put the eco Posie "under erasure to se the economic factor as irreducible as tein ‘ones the socal text, even a itis crased, however imperecti, when it ‘Slim tobe the inal eterminant or the transcendental signified” " “The clearest available example of such epistemic violence i the remotely orchestrated, fa-flng, nd heteropencous project fo constitute the CeyatiChakcavorty Siva colonia sujet as Other: Tis proj i bo the axetil obiterstion tbe te of tat Other int presario Subject. It well known {hat Foureul lates eptamie lees, a compte overhal Of the ep {omen the redebnison of sanity a the end ofthe Earopean cightcath ‘Satiy™ But what if tat partes rosnion was on a pat of the rave of sary in Europe as well sin the clones Wa if tc ‘rojo of epic overnal worked ialocted and unacEnowedend fare of vat weanded engine? Perhaps it no more than to ae that {Be saben ofthe palimpseue arraive of impeainm be cs subjusiod Knowidge” cn whos st of taowicds that have been dit ‘quilisct ar tnadoqut to their tsk or fnsuleny caboraid naive Eowders ocd low down on the hirarchy, tenea he roquired vel ‘teagan cen 3 sent to deste way thins ely were” oF opi the namativeefhtry av inperar tthe bet eon of ison 1 Ih rathoy, oor an acount of how am explanation and amative of ality vas esate ashe normative on. To daboate on Ms ts conser Tiety the undepinsings ofthe Dah eodicaton of Hinds Law Fist 2 few diclamer In the Uae Sats the hid-woidi curren afin humana diilnes ion openly ehaie Twas orn {n'Tnia and recived my primary, secondary and university eduesuon there icing two year of padute work My Indian example cond thas te sen tsa nteaigc investigation of he lr oot of my Own identy ‘Yeteven at {know tat one canne ely ene the tices of “motive: tions” mould aan that my le projet to poitout the post {Seal vaney of such now. Irn to Indian material Decade nthe feroce of advanced iiplinay tain hat acide! of rh ad edo {aon has provided me wih a ‘err of ihe hier canvas holon ‘Sin of th pein! angiags tht are ef tos fora ron xpally ‘Shen armed wat the Marit sepuckm of cones experene fs eft ‘over and a rtgueofdacpnry formations, Yet he indian cae cat iiaten ns ropecenaive ofall cumey naons cates, andthe Hee atm eked he Or fF Sl "hen schemas summary ofthe epistemic violence the codicatonofinda Law clare te notion oepiese ven {ey fal suason of wowace tay gun aed spifennce eed fh cnt at Hin em sar sian esa ula sy opera in caso foots hat -tage™ ourpan epeme deca by the abject ae of memory ant (he bes), Jno (ae remembered), sara (he learneor-anothe) ane ohana {th pares in-enchntgs) The orig of what had ben ard tnd what Sas femembered were not azcesanly continuous or Henin Every in: ‘osation of srt technical ected or reopened) the vent of onary "fearing" or reveation. The second two texte learned nd the pe fermedvere sce aleialy continous. Leal theo end prac fone wee ot in any gen cate crn if is ctre dese the teay of lw or four waye of sting 3 cape. The legiimation ofthe Dolymerpboussractr of kal performance "neal" noncoberent and {pena both cn troughs titary vison, s he naztve of odieation {oder as'an ample of epteme vnen “The narrative of the stabilization and codification of Hind law is ess well known than the sory of Indian education, soit ight be wel {o stant there" Coasider the often quoted programmatic lines from Ma ‘iulay’s infamous "Minute on Indian Education” (1835) “We mustatpres- ‘et do our beat form a clas who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom ive govern: & clas of persons, Indian in blood and colour, ‘Dat English in tase in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave ito reine he vernacular dialects ofthe country, 1 enrich {hose dialects wit terms of scence borrowed fromthe Western nomencle- tore, and fo render them by dewees ft vehicles for conveying knowledge to the gear mass ofthe population”" The education of eoloial subjects ‘complements thelr prodvction in lav. One set of establishing 2 version ‘ofthe Bets system was the development ofan unessy separation between rmation in Sansist studies tnd the nave, now alternative, tradition of Sanssit “high culture” Within the former the cultural expla: ‘nations generated by authontave scholars matched the epistemic violence of the legal project. loess here the founding of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784, the Indian Institute at Oxford in 1883, and the analytic and taxonomic {anichepemonic India.” A version of history was gradually established in hich he Brahmans were shown 10 have th same meton 8 (hus Do ‘iding the legiimation for) the codifying Bris: "In order to preserve Hindu soriery intact [the] succeiors (ofthe orginal Brahmans] Rado ‘educe everything fo writing and make them more snd more righ. And that {wat has preserved Hindu society in spite ofa succession of politcal ‘Upheavals and foreign invasions” This isthe 1928 verdict of Mabarna- Fhopadhyaya Haraprased Shas, learned Indian Sanskrit, biiant rep- resentative of the indigenous clte mihin colonial production, who was ‘shed to weite several chapters ofa “Histoy of Bengal” projected ty the Drivate secretary to the governor general of Bengal in 1916. To signal the ‘Ssymmeuy in the Felationship between authority and explanation (depend Ingo the raceclass ofthe authori), compare this 1928 remark by Edward ‘Thompson, English intelectual: “Hindulsm was what i seemed to be Te-was a higher civiiztion that won against i, both with AKbur and the English" And add ths fom alter by an Engish soldierscholar inthe 1680: The ody of Sans, ie ngage of tego ha erie me intense enjoyment during the last 25 years of my ie in tat has oT af aye meas ome o Be up ea et "These authors are the very Bes ofthe soures for the aonspe- cialis French imellctuals entry into the ciization ofthe Other” am, ‘however, not referring to intllecuals and scholars of postcolonial produc- ‘ion, Ike Shas, when 1 say thatthe Other as Subject i inaccessible 10, Foucault and Deleuze Iam thinking ofthe general nonspeilist, nonacy ‘demic population aroas he clas spetirum, fr whom tbe episteme operates eee tte rage Tae Se ea ooo seater GoesS o e Ee teenie eS son ag ite soba tempat aoa eee paacraeee eee Sneareek cance Seale ace Eco it oe pt esac as emt and on the way to solidarity through alliance politics (a Marxist c ashtier gamete geen mn Gam eae ietaesedirnmamranes Eesan ieerecah neem ome ‘Sa oeeueae econ ape Set Antonio Grams's work onthe “sublem ses extends clas postion dase consioumess argue: aad In The ghia Bee ‘aire Perhap because Grama cits ie vangudase ome ie enna intlectn, ei concemed withthe inecuals oie me oe stirs cultural and politcal movement into hebegenoay Tg see, ‘mast be made to detemne the production of hss as samureenah ea Into suchas “The Southern Guerton’- Gramsci conden thea ore fire poitcal economy i aly within what ante tom ca eggs ofreading ken om or 2n international dviston of abe Vet sn aroun ofthe phase development ofthe abate ae out ot Joint when bis cultural macrolony i operated, however remeber e Spitemiintrerence wth ol tnd dieiplnarydcaions nace the imperist project. When! mova thcend of ts esa, tthe of woman a sual, {wil sgt tht te pos of close ot i pemistenyTreclosed trough the manipulation of omsie see, ‘The fst part of my proposuontat the phased deveopment ofthe salieri complicated bythe imperit projet se costes ‘coletve fimetectuls who maybe caledhe"Sateln Seda eye ‘They task Can the sutaliem speak? Here we are wan Foscaats gem diiline of history and with poole wo acknovidge Hs ieee ‘Their projet is to rethink indian colonial historiopaphy fom the noe specie of the discontinuous chin of peasant insurgenics Suag ee Iona occupation, Tass indend the podem oie permisom ans iscssd by Said” As Ranjit Gabe rps, ‘he histororuphy of Indian ona has for a Jon in en dominate by etic sand bourgeoenatonalet itn hari ts brs thatthe making ofthe inden me ond the developmen fhe conscouneynatensiane which conmed th proces wa excalvon re tomate acticrements Inte colonies ‘eo-olonait histone these chev are Sree to Bah colo irs admimsratons PO, ‘Ss asutions, snd ear te mana Zo co-nationaliet wrtings—to Indian elite personalities, {nations activites and ideas" Certain varieties ofthe Indian elite are at best native informants for first- ‘Work! ftllectual interested in the voie of tue Other. But one must never- ‘heess insist that the colonized subelirn subject i iretrevablyheteroge- Against the indigenous elite we may set what Guba calls “the politics ofthe people," both outside ("hs was an autonomous domain, for neither oninated from elt politics nor did its existence depend on the Iver’) and inside (it continued to operat vigorously in spite of [colo- sls), adjusting itself to the conditions pevaling under the Raj and in many respects developing entirely new strains in both form and content”) {he ewcut of colonal production * I cannot entirely endorse this insistence fon determinate vigor snd full autonomy, for practical histoiograpic x= {genic will not allow such endorsemeats to privilege subalem conscious fess Against the posible charge that his approach is esentilis, Guha Constructs a definition ofthe people (the place ofthat extence) that can ‘aly an ideatiy-in-ieretial. He proposes a dynamic stratification gd ‘Segzbing eoloial social production a large. Even the third group on the fis the buler group, at it were, between the people and the great macro- Hee ral dominant sroupe, is fself dened as place of in-betweenness, ‘what Derrida has deserbed as an “ante”: Rea ee Pe on te sb ft Gome Uaeen got ac nome ws pres pa at “baer dae” See meee on wee Sone ee Seep areca tay Soe So eae ara knee Sear oes oe se ‘Consider the third item on this ist—the ante of situational i- eterminacy these careful historians presuppose as they srappe with the ‘Goeaton, Can the subalern speak? "Thon as a whole and in the abstract Ge eatery... mas heterogencous in is composition and thanks ta the uneven character of regional economic and social developments om area to area. The same class or clement which was dominant in one ‘rca. could be among the dominated in another, This could and did ‘Teste many ambigutes'and contradictions in attitudes and alliances, e ‘Saaly among the lowest stata of the rural gentry, impoverished landlords, Pek persants and upper middle class peasants all of whom belonged, ideally §speaking. 10 the category of people or subalter classes. “The tas of feseareh” projected here i “to investigate, identity and meas te spec ar and def te devon te] elements Teonstng item 3] fron the seal and situate it historically.” “investigate, [constant he snc" oomam cold harlybe more ese Gayatt Chakravorty Spivak, tilist and taxonomic. Ye a curious methodological imperative is at work TThave argued that, in the Foucault-Deleaze conversation, a postrepresen: tationalist vocablary hides an essentialist agenda In subaltern stuhes, be- fause of the violence of imperialist epistemic, socal. and disciplinary tac Seription, a project understood inessendlist terms mast tale ima radical textual proctce of difeences, The obec ofthe group's investigation, in the ease not even of the people as such but of the floating buler Zone of the regional elite subalter, ia deviation fom an ideal=the people or sub- llterm=whih stilt defined as a difleence from the elite Ie toward this Structure thatthe research is ovented,a predicament rater diferent from the seldiagnosed transpareney ofthe frst-mord radical intellecteal. What ‘xonomy ean fx such a space? Whether or not they themselves perecive ‘icin fact Guba ses his definition of “te people within tbe master-slave ‘ialeciowther text articulates the dificult task of rewriting its own con ‘ditions of imposstlity as the conditions ofits possibly. “At he regional and lca levels [the dominant indigenous groupe] iffblonging to social strata hierarchically inferior to thse ofthe dom~ ‘nant alrindian groups acted inthe interests ofthe later and no in on enmity fo interes corresponding ial to ther own social being.” Whee ‘hese weiter peak in thei essentalining language, ofa gap between intrest and ection in the intermediate group, tei contusions ae closer to Maps than tothe selEconscious aa vet of Beleuz’'s pronouncement on the ise ‘Guha, ike Marx. speaks of intrest in terms of the socal rater than the libiival being. The Name-ofthe-Father imagery in The Eighteenth Bri. ‘maire can belp 1 emphasize that, on the level of class oF group action, “true correspondence Yo own being” ise arificial or social 28 the pao aymic So much forthe intermediate group marked in item 3. For the “uve” subalern group, whose identity is is iference, there no une presentable subaliera subject that can know and speak its. uh intl ‘as solution isnot to abstain from representation. The problem is that {he subjects itinerary has not ben acd so aso ole an object of seduction to the representing intellectual. Inthe slghly dated language ofthe Indian {soup the question becomes, How can we touch the consciousness of the Deople, even as we investigate their polities? With what voice-consciousness. / an the sual speak Their projet aflerall isto rewrite the development, fof the consciousnest of the Indian nation. The planned discontinuity of {imperial ngorously distinguishes this project, however old-fashioned its Aruculaon, from "rendering visible the medical ad juridical mechanisms that surrounded the sory [of Pierre Riviere|” Foucaslt ie conmet it sug ‘esting that “to make visible the unseen can also mean a change of level AMidresing oneself toa layer of material which had hithero had no pert> ‘ence for history and which bad not been recoptized as having any mor, ‘esthetic or historical value" Tt ste slippage from rendering visibe the mechanism to rendering vocal the incividal, bath avoiding "any Kind of analysis of [the sujet] whether peychologica,psychoanalytical or Kinguis- “ie” that ig consistently troublesome (PK, 49.3), “The entigue by Ajit K. Chaudhury, a West Bengali Marist, of ‘Guh’s seach for the subalern consciousness can be sen a3 8 moment of the production process that includes the subalten. Chaudhury's perception thatthe Marust view of the 38 of consciousness involves the snovletg fsa eins sera 10 ms in pines, aate. Yet he ‘eage th pontv oy ta as ponte etodoe Mans ‘bigs im fad this idee “This oto bite he tparaace Sadrtuntog pests concounes x wor contoune ela prt Jor. Ts ences our knowledge ofthe peasant and the worker And, ‘min rows ight on hows pair nc aks om fee orn ‘iene ch conrad a prbi of ston ods imparonee ncaa Marcon : Sa vara of “kternmicoato” Marais, which balive ia a are ral of cnsconsen only Gf thn coat ‘Tat Mare remain moments of productive talemen, an at oe te Tet of Fucus end Deen rection of Mann ad he see sfite sia motivation of ti Sobers Sas oop Al ter sted $3 the sumption ta tea pare om of cnaonsess On tb French ete tessa gist consent oe sg ® ndetely Ae space fhe prea of coco SPP roan cia area eee Fim wer or as Tad. he prem of couclontsom uta ees eee a ee eee Ieprsion of aces snot Subaiton Se poop Ines ‘Great osortag ote tnctaowetped terms cfs ove wtonaion orth antral ca apn on wk. eiugsschasChachary's he asc of ‘Glouner” wih "Enowicge” cons te coca made term of ideological sConaonnte, srdng 1 Lani, sned ihe Erowate of he itecontis beeen iat dass and Soap it's knee of th mais that consi soaey The dela Scere mang nl wi i temic ing ecto ec undevtand Sang in ry, spel, change os a ea mode of the fc" Pere Macherey provides the following formula for the inter ‘rea of ideology What is mportan in work what it Goes nt ‘Bistnoresame a tere nom wn as ough ‘hat would i fo be inereting' method might be tt oa, {tat of meonring silencer whether acknonledged or unacknowledged But {ster what the work cant sy i nprtan, because there he cae ‘ration of the stterane is samed out n'a sort of ourmey to sence. Macher’ ideas can be devslopd in drctions be mould be aliely to flow: Even wr nen of the Hea of erate of he arcuate a method appicabe to he Soil text ‘ipa, somes agains te pun of hit own argument. Alou {he notion “what refuses to sy" mgt be careless for a herary Wore, fomething like a cobective deleical real canbe dagnoned To the cd ‘Synge practise of imperil. This wosld open the el fora pail conomic ed muludscptnary aolopcal easeripion ofthe terran. Be suse this sa “wording of th word ons aecond lve of shetaction, 8 ‘oncept of refusal becomes plaable here The echival hi ‘isipinary-erieal, and neiab, nervetoni work invoved ete ‘reo tok meaning ences" Ths can bea eseipion of “nee a Se nantes ‘irreducibly differential, a — Sie cree av ener socun ne e ce gies soe aia eee errata Perma fineot i ee eae as it alent fae eo aa ‘tamer in eto knoe ony oe “ect of yet nolcenan aes E sega aes oe oacceentg mt necere soa. ‘sins that the eibration ofthe insurgency. packaged asa Senta onrenioueatan cemiamere Stina ame eg eres Eee sian arerena ty aera? panic Saucier Hiatiocmrusincon kohanearasnroames of the intellectuals. ee a Sr seat eie can sus ati a Pee ae aaa ice Saaremaa ne Selo eeihiar meer tage Scio a eamneaes meagre ibrar hea econ acme meeena Sh ceday Somme Sateg aha Ge aera mae Slope a ae fe raga Riemer Teer Semacee nou enter soa aunt sn et So ee ees ene Er caer ee eae ogee, Seiten nya hme meres yoducton, the stair hs no history end Soot Sea ne waed Females even more dcpy in shew? = Te conrnprnyinterationl vision of boris dae: iment of hee a sinatra ao 8 ae Sti a oun of coun geal Ee oe ena Pa iv cath gi pry il eA eee corer niger eos ther irieted an hing br fore Ine nese a eae Seu and pot ef aga a and se oe annie ‘Senamaon in nner tora ieasean kt spin nd andr’ eaten se ne ren a, ings wee dstoyed nd roan Tor gered en ‘atria wer tuned clon mg td fan ization, the growth of mukintional capital, and the ele ofthe admin tative charge, “development: Jos ot now involve wholesale lepton nd evablting edacationl stems ina comparable Way. This impedes the erowth of coosumerism inthe comprador coun, With moder ele ommuniations andthe emergence of advanced capiast ewonomies at ABest At maine nematony! dion aor re {o tee the supply of cheap labor inthe comprador count, eo pan lr soot of course, taney “cheap” or expen: sive" An auence olor laws (ors sactminar efercement of then) ‘salience by devlnment an meant {he peniphen and minal mbsinence Feglrements onthe at ‘order wil care To tee ecclesia, he urban proletariat Incomprador counts nt not be Tinned inthe sSe.ogy et cote rig ae pnp of » Se) a pnst all odds, prepares the pros for rstnce through the colton Doles Foucault mentions (7,216). Ths separation fom the ideology of Sumerian is inreagly exacerbated bythe proliferating phenomena of Intemational subconracting “Under this wrasgy, manufctrers based in ‘developed counts subconzact the mos labor tensive sags of prod thon, fr example, soning or assembiy, to the Third Wovld atone where Isboei chenp ace matmbled, he shlinatonal -smporthe goods “nder generous taf exemprions—tothe developed county stead ofeing ‘hom othe aa marke Here he ink wosrining conser almost ‘Snapped "Whe lal cession has markedly lowed rae an investment ‘worldwide sine 197, nteational subcontracting has boomed. Inthe ‘aos mukinatonals ae ert rent mutant workers, revolonary op aval and even economic downturn “Gan mis neresingy ethan he comprador theaters [Not sursingy, some members Of rdigenowsdornant groups i omy ‘ader oantncs, member of the local bourgeiie, Srd te ngage of $ifance pois sacive ldening wi forms frente pase in fcvanced captain counses stem of a pice with that eit Bent of ‘ourpeishnoriogaphy deseibd by Ramage Guba ‘separated from any posit ofan allance among "women, piso onsripted soldiers, hospital paints, and homosexuals” (FD, 310) are labor, the subject of exploitation cannot know and speak the ex of caption tei bay the norenreenng ie ‘Space for her to speak is achieved. The woman is doubly in shadow. ‘Yet even this does not encompass the heterogeneous Other ‘side (tough not completely 20) the ercit ofthe inerationa division labor, thre are people whoa: consciousness we cannot gasp if we close fon the street or in the countryside. To eonffont them isnot to GeyatstChakravorty Spivak (rerreten) tem but 0 fear o represent drlon) cursive. This ar Iment would ake vs it a exttaue of ciliary sntropoligy andthe ‘eitinship between clemestarypotagogy and aipinary formation, Seiten mpi anne tlre 2Staturally articulate” subject of oppression, that such a sujet come through hitory ara forsborened modeoFsdocion naratte, Je Dr te reve seoga le innate re areas ocean es Serta vee ene Sasase ae cee Sevateaeancren oaner arene ae re Zana nen errieamae Si gmoer eaectiaee create cera ar ae ones ea Seer ee eee Ere ech eaccre te ee oa tcrmee ree eeee See Sea Seater ena ae caneaaate Sioa ee a eee fore eects nitrates ENG erica drones ete Sepeouseca am mcracne cs acetate Sree a Sen omc ee Ser oe Come seroma ooo pete ae Sete ere See ee Seat eae Repent menses oe noe caer _gaphical discontinuity is peopoliteally specie othe First World: ‘his geographical discontinuity of which you speak might mean perhaps the fellowing: 2s soon at we strug ide against explottion, the proletariat not nly leads the struggle but also defines is tages is methods, its places and its instruments; and to ally oneself with the proletariat is to consolidate with is postions its IMeelogy, it 10 take up spain the motives for their combate This means total immersion [in he Marxist roc]. Buti i is against power that one struggle, then all those who acknowledge it as intolerable can begin the struggle wherever they find themselves and in terms of their own activity (or passivity. In e ‘aging inthis struggle that s ther own, whose objec- {ives they clearly understand and whose methods they an determine, they enter into the revolutionary pro- fess. As alles of the proletariat, © be sure, because Dower is exercised the way its inorder to maintain ‘pitas expotation. They genuinely serve the cause ofthe proletariat by fighting in thos places where they find themselves oppressed. Women, prsoners, cOm- Scripted soldiers, hospital patients, and homosexuals Ihave now begun’ specie struggle aint the partic- ‘lar form of power the constraints and contol, thet are exercised over them. (FD, 216) This is an admirable program of localized resistance. Where possible, this ‘model of resistance isnot an alerative fo but can complement, macro- Toglalstragles along “Marsst lines. Yet if its situation i univecsalized, ‘accommodates unacknowledged privileging ofthe subject. Without a the (ory of ideology, it can ead to t dangerous utopianism. "Foucault sa brilant thinker of power-in-spacing, but the ware- ‘ness ofthe topographical reinseription of imperialism doesnot inform his Dresupposiions. He is taken in by the restited version ofthe West pro- ‘Goce by tat reinseiption and ths helps to consolidate is eflecs. Notice the omission ofthe fat, in the following passage, thatthe new mechanism ‘of power in the seventeenth and eighteath centris (the extraction of ‘Surplus value without extacconomic coteon its Marsist description) i fccured by moans of wrstoral imperialism the Earth snd se product “elsewhere.” The representation of sovereigaty is crucial in thove theaters “In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, we have the prodution of important phenomenon, the emergence, of father the invention, ofa nw ‘echanism of power posesed of highly specie procedural technique ‘hich i als, I believe, absolutly incompatible with the rations of ¥0¥- regnty, This new mechanism of power is more dependent upon bodies Sand what they do thn the Earth and its products” (PK, 104), ‘Becguse of a blind spot regarding theft wave of "geographical Aiscontinuty," Foucault can remain impervious ois second wave In the ‘middle decades of our own century, identifying it simply “withthe collapse Go Fascism and the decline of Stalinism” (PK. 87. Here is Mike Davis's Shernative view: "It was rather the plabal logic of coume-fevolutionary “lolence which created conditions forthe peacefl economic interdepend- nce of a chastened Ailantic imperialism under American leadership. It ‘vas multi-national military integration under the slogan of collective se- ‘curity against the USSR which preceded and quckened the interpenetration of the major capitalist economies, making Possible the new era of com ‘mercial liberalism which Nowered between 1988 and 1973" ‘tis within the emergence of this “new mechanism of power that we mist read the fixation on national snes, the reisance £0 eco- ‘omis, and the emphasis on concepts lke power and desire that privilege ‘mierology. Davis continues: "This. ite centralization of sta. {epic military power by the United Sates was to allow an enlightened and flexible forts principal satrap. In particular, it proved highly CGayat Chakravory Spivak accommodating to the residual imperialist pretensions of the French and, British --- with each keping up a strident ideological mobilization against ‘communism al the while” While aking precautions againet such unitary "France," it mst be sid that such unitary notions as “he works struggle" or such unitary pronouncements as “ke power, resistance is ‘multiple and can be integrated in global strategies” (PK, 142), seca ate pretable by way of Davis's narrative Iam not sugpesting. as docs Paul Bove, that “fora displaced and homeless people (te Palestinians} assaulted mail: itary and culturally... a question (soch as Fovcaul' to engage in plies 's to ty 10 know withthe greatest posible honesty whether the vo- ition ig deszable sa foolish hry of Western wealtn”® Lam ‘er, that 10 buy a self-contained Version of the West ito ignore IS ‘production by the impenaist prec. ‘Sometimes it seems asi the very briliance of Foucault's analysis, ath entries of European mperaom produces 8 miniatre veron of that ‘management of space—but by doctors, ‘evelopment of admunigraons™but to eylums: considerations of the pe: ‘pbery—but in terms ofthe insane prisoners, and children. The elie, the ‘sym, the prison, the university sem o be screnallegories tha ore ‘lose a Yeading ote broader naratives of imperiism. (One could open ‘Similar dtcusion of the ferocious mou of "deteritralzation” i De- Jeuze and Guattar) “One can perfectly well not ak about someting be- cause one doesnt know about i" Foucault might murmur (PA. 69). Yet ‘xe have already spoken ofthe sanctioned ignorance that every entic of Imperialism must char mw (On the general level on which US. academics and students take “influence” om France, one encounters the following understanding: Fou ‘aul eal with eal history, real polis, nd real socal problems, Derida |s intcesibe, esoteric, and textualistic. The reader is probably well ac Qainted with this received idea. "That [Dernda’s] own work,” Terry Eag- Jtton wets, "has been grossly uahistoneal, politically evasive and in pae- tice oblivious fo language as ‘discourse’ [language in fancuom] is not to be

    You might also like