Selected Subaltern Studies

This book collects ten essays from the five volumes of Subaltern Studies that have so far appeared. The aim of the studies is to 'promote a systematic and informed discussion of subaltern themes in the field of South Asian studies, and thus help to rectify the elitist bias characteristic of much research and academic work in this particular area. The contributors...focus attention on what Gramsci called the subaltern classes and their condition, and alsore-examine well-known events and themes in the new, more rounded perspective. The contributors encompass history, politics, economics and sociology; attitudes, ideologies, and belief systems.' GayatriChakravorty Spivak's essay 'Subaltern Studies: Deconstructing Historiography' introduces the volume and Edward Said, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia has provided a foreword.

“"Excellent when teaching the colonial period in Indian history."--DariusCooper, San Diego Mesa College”

"A most useful collection that makes representative articles from this very influential series readily available for class use."--A.T. Embree, Columbia University"Excellent when teaching the colonial period in Indian history."--Darius Cooper, San Diego Mesa College"Especially welcome....Will serve the admirable purpose of introducing American students--who are often unfamiliar with this way of looking at history from the bottom upwards!--to an important body of recent research."--Gavin R.G. Hambly, University of Texas at Dallas

Ranajit Guha is at Australian National University. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is at University of Pittsburgh. Edward Said is at Columbia University.

This provocative volume presents the most wide-ranging essays from the first five volumes of Subaltern Studies, along with an introductory essay by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak--the translator of Derrida's Of Grammatology into English--and a foreword by eminent critic Edward W. Said. Addressed to students and scholars throughout the humanities, these essays address what Antonio Gramsci--the founder of the Italian communist party--called the subaltern classes, reexamining well-known historical and political events, such as Gandhi's role in India, from a Marxist perspective. Together, the essays examine aspects of the analysis of domination, with special reference to the critique of imperialism, in an attempt to rectify the elitist bias characteristic of much academic work on India. A ground-breaking work of considerable pedagogical relevance for courses dealing with colonialism and imperialism in literature, sociology, anthropology, politics, and history, Subaltern Studies also features a comprehensive glossary of Indian terms for readers not familiar with Indian history.

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