300450 Thinking with and beyond Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak – life, oeuvre and impact (S) (WiSe 2023/2024)

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is perhaps mostly known in the context of postcolonial studies with her publication “Can the Subaltern Speak?”. Originally coming from literary studies, she is also working as translator, teacher and activist. Spivak repeatedly describes herself as a feminist-marxist deconstructivist which reflects in her multilayered, interdisciplinary work. In the seminar we will be dealing with different aspects of her oeuvre: the influences of the Cultural Studies and the Subaltern Studies Group, her Marxist perspective and how she thinks with and beyond Marx, her deconstructivist approach coming from Derrida as well as her perspectives on feminism, especially her critic on western feminism and her concept of Subalternity. Based on these aspects, we will be able to understand her influence on postcolonial studies and her special viewpoint on democracy and democratic political education. Finally, we will be also discussing the impact she had and has, the different critics on her, how she reacts to these critics and how she endures contradictions in her work as well as in her person. As „Studienleistung“, students should write a response paper (approx. 3 pages) on the respective text of the session, which serves as a basis for the discussion in the seminar. “Prüfungsleistung” is the writing of a paper (“Hausarbeit”) according to the respective examination regulations.