Difference between revisions of "Gayatri C. Spivak"

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{{wp-also2|Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak}}
 
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'''Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak''' is a voiciferous, postmodernist literary critic who was named a [[University Professor]] in March [[2007]].  
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'''Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak''' is a vociferous literary critic who was named a [[University Professor]] in March [[2007]]. She is also a founder of the [[Institute for Comparative Literature and Society]], a participant in elementary and intermediate [[Chinese]] classes, and an occasional instructor.
  
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She is known for helping found [[Postcolonialism]] altogether, particularly the concept of [[:w:subalternism|subalternism]].
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She is a noted expert and translator of the ideas of [[:w:Jacques_Derrida|Jacques Derrida]], and is known for helping found the discipline of [[postcolonialism]] altogether, particularly the concept of the [[:w:Subaltern_(postcolonialism)|subaltern]].<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZHH4ALRFHw</ref> She has also been name-checked in a song by electro-punk band Le Tigre.  
  
 
== Criticism ==
 
== Criticism ==
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She has been criticised as being "incomprehensible".
 
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:''It is now 50 years since I graduated from Columbia College, when Lionel Trilling, Mark Van Doren, Fred Dupee, Jacques Barzun, and countless other exemplars of scholarly life taught there. I suppose change is inevitable and sometimes desirable, but when did the University change its mission from education to indoctrination, from cultivation of critical thinking to dissemination of mindless cant? The appointment of Gayatri Spivak — Marxist, feminist, deconstructionist, grievance collector — as University Professor is, I believe, the last nail driven into the coffin of Columbia as an independent truth-seeking university.
 
  
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:''This is the same Spivak who employs unreadable jargon to “deconstruct” Western literature, exposing its role in the oppression of noble third world poor peoples. Her deconstructive work seeks to blur and erase all distinctions, not just between the sexes, but between good and bad, truth and falsehood, success and failure. One distinction remains: that between the capitalist oppressors — white, Western, imperialist males — and the designated, politically correct victims. Her greatest success at erasing distinctions, however, may be in helping to transform a liberal arts university into a politically correct reeducation camp. Shame on Columbia.''
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Some students have found Spivak's methods of instruction arbitrary, capricious, and vain. One attempt to team-teach a course with [[Hamid Dabashi]] led to legendarily disastrous results.<ref>http://www.culpa.info/?root=csearch&process=browse&target=INTRO%2520TO%2520COMP%2520LIT%2520%26%2520SOCIETY%2520Call%2520Number%252048458%2520</ref>
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::*Stephen Rittenberg ’57CC, ’63PS, Larchmont, NY <ref>http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alumni/Magazine/Summer2007/Letters.html</ref>
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Her scholarship has been criticized for using "unreadable jargon" and forcing a false dichotomy between "white, Western, imperialist males" and "designated, politically correct victims" on her opponents to bludgeon them into submission. <ref>http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alumni/Magazine/Summer2007/Letters.html</ref>
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
 
<references />
 
<references />
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== External links ==
 
== External links ==
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[[Category:University Professors|Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty]]
 
[[Category:University Professors|Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty]]
 
[[Category:English professors|Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty]]
 
[[Category:English professors|Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty]]
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[[Category:South Asian studies|Spivak]]
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[[Category:Postcolonialists|Spivak]]

Latest revision as of 19:55, 9 May 2024

Gayatri C. Spivak
See also Wikipedia's article about "Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak".
See also Gayatri C. Spivak's entry in Columbia's directory.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is a vociferous literary critic who was named a University Professor in March 2007. She is also a founder of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, a participant in elementary and intermediate Chinese classes, and an occasional instructor.

She is a noted expert and translator of the ideas of Jacques Derrida, and is known for helping found the discipline of postcolonialism altogether, particularly the concept of the subaltern.[1] She has also been name-checked in a song by electro-punk band Le Tigre.

Criticism

Some students have found Spivak's methods of instruction arbitrary, capricious, and vain. One attempt to team-teach a course with Hamid Dabashi led to legendarily disastrous results.[2]

Her scholarship has been criticized for using "unreadable jargon" and forcing a false dichotomy between "white, Western, imperialist males" and "designated, politically correct victims" on her opponents to bludgeon them into submission. [3]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZHH4ALRFHw
  2. ↑ http://www.culpa.info/?root=csearch&process=browse&target=INTRO%2520TO%2520COMP%2520LIT%2520%26%2520SOCIETY%2520Call%2520Number%252048458%2520
  3. ↑ http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alumni/Magazine/Summer2007/Letters.html

External links

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