Trespassing Dreams: Rethinking Inequality Through the Concept of Subalternity

Abstract

I explore the notion of subjective immobility suggested by Spivak’s concept of the subaltern through auto/ethnographic accounts and philosophical re-thinking. Through three “departure gates,” I aim to provoke the reader to think about how the perennial question, “Can the subaltern speak?” can be transgressed or perhaps rephrased. Philosophically, this article contrasts two ways of looking at desire and their effects on subject agency. I locate this tension in empirical events, including the story of a racialized international student-parent, examples of emancipatory initiatives in higher education, and autoethnographic narrative. Finally, through a discussion of agnotology, I hope to open up a space for thinking of ways of deploying an ethical silence in subalternity, in the hope of “trespassing” the boundary between agency and immobility.