SOAS Research Online

Abstract

In this chapter I reflect on Gramsci category of the "subaltern," taking into consideration recent contributions to this topic, particularly those offered by Joseph A. Buttigieg (1998), Giorgio Baratta (2007, 2008) and Marcus E. Green (2002). The latter, besides presenting an eloquent critique of Gayatry Chakravorty Spivak's article Can the Subaltern Speak? (1988), allows me to return to Gramscian sources so as to carry out a radicalization of Gramsci's positions with reference to the experience of the "Untouchables/Dalits in South Asia. There is little doubt that the "Subaltern Question" in India today cannot ignore the "Dalit Question" as "The political unconscious of India society" (Rao, 2009 xiii). The case-study referring to the Rishi Dalits of Bangladesh accentuates still further the precarious position of these groups of subalterns, but also their aspiration to overcome subalternity.