by SOKARI EKINE
This week’s Women’s Magazine broadcasts a shortened version of a keynote talk at UC Berkeley by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, titled “Situating Feminism” [historically and geographically]. Reading the Berkeley website’s introduction one would have expected a deeply theoretical discussion on feminism, post colonialism and globalisation…..
This presentation will attempt to situate feminism geographically, in terms of the triumph of the Euro-specific (even Anglo-specific) model, in terms of the history of both of Marxism and Capitalism. It will trace feminism’s itinerary through both coloniality and globalization. It will also attempt to situate feminism historically in terms of the provenance of what we at radical U.S. universities call feminism and see how it reflects on the development of mobility among women in terms of not only capital but also the great engines of world governance.
Instead Spivak, [in the WM clip] begins by revisiting her landmark essay “Can the Subaltern Speak” with humour, self-reflection and a clarity, which for me was not always present, when reading the text. She begins by admitting that the essay was “very hard for me to write”. She goes on to say it was more a critique of “the Hindus, it’s not really an anti-colonialism essay” ……” because none of them really touched on subject formation of the women concerned just passed good laws”. This is interesting because I never got that and I am sure most readers didnt.
Black Looks for more
Berkeley Webcast to listen