Qualitative Research Journal: Volume 18 Issue 2

Revisiting “Can the subaltern speak?”: introduction

The purpose of this paper is to provide a sense of the perspectives that guide the collection of articles.

Critical intimacy: an interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

This paper is an interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, whose work is inspiration for this special issue.

Decolonizing interpretive research: subaltern sensibilities and the politics of voice

The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion of decolonizing interpretive research in ways that respect and integrate the qualitative sensibilities of subaltern voices in…

“It’s not just a matter of speaking…”: the vicissitudes of cross-cultural interviewing

In “Can the subaltern speak?,” Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak makes the important distinction between representation as “Vertretung” and “Darstellung.” She also produces a strong…

Revisiting Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak” through the lens of affect theory: Can the subaltern be felt?

The purpose of this paper is to revisit Spivak’s seminal essay “Can the Subaltern Speak” and the perennial challenges of researchers to collect information about the Other…

Against the scandal: itinerant curriculum theory as subaltern momentum

Keeping Spivak’s essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in mind, the purpose of this paper is to examine the itinerant curriculum theory (ICT) as a subaltern momentum unveiling how ICT…

The complexity of Spivak’s project: a Marxist interpretation

The purpose of this paper is to engage some of the central themes of Gayatri Spivak’s seminal essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak? (CSS)” In particular, her criticisms of…

Struggling with uncertainty and regret: lessons from “Can the Subaltern Speak?”

The classic essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak takes leftist western intellectuals to task for essentializing subaltern subjectivity. I say this as…

Can subaltern professors speak?: examining micro-aggressions and lack of inclusion in the academy

The purpose of this paper is to highlight various ways in which micro-aggressions and other forms of institutional oppression have affected subaltern professors and students in…

Beyond deaths in school: education, knowledge production, and the Adivasi experience

Submergence, dislocation, rehabilitation and reform are the terms that crowd out most discussions on Adivasi/indigenous communities. They also fit in aptly with the Adivasi…

Can the subaltern be seen? Photographic colonialism in service learning

The purpose of this paper is to examine the unaddressed phenomenon of photographic colonialism using service learning to illustrate the way in which photos and visual imagery are…

What did I say that was wrong? Re/worlding the word

The purpose of this paper is to interrogate practice of research and discursively problematise the role of the researcher in relation to the ways in which knowledge is constructed…

About the contributors