Subaltern Voices Research Articles

Fragmented geographies: Tada Fumio and the Japanese empire in Manchuria, Mengjiang and Korea

This paper explores the placement and function of the discipline of geography in the expansion of the Japanese empire, doing so through the prism of the work and field research of Tada Fumio, a leading geographer in Japan both before and after 1945. This examination of this aspect of Tada Fumio's career and its interweaving with the construction and consolidation of Japan's empire will broaden recent studies of imperial Japan's simultaneous encounter with geopolitics and fascism while engaging with Japan's developing ideas about geography as a political and cultural discipline. This paper demonstrates the importance of the entwined histories of Japanese and German geographers in the Japanese empire, as well as documenting Tada Fumio's activities in Manchuria (northeast China) and on the Korean peninsula. Finally, the paper reveals fissures in the historical record of Japanese geographers in continental Asia and, until such time as more subaltern voices can be found, seeks to lay down the foundation for further research on the study of geography in the Japanese empire.

Pluriverse in science: Discourses of Amazonian land-use change and socio-environmental (in)justice

In the Brazilian Amazon region, social, economic, and political changing structures have increased the pressure on land, generating inequalities for the region's most vulnerable residents. Simultaneously, scientific knowledge production has increased and documented the region's different realities. This document presents a scientific discourse analysis of land-use change in the Amazonian region and its interaction with socio-environmental (in)justice, considering the pluriversal perspective. We respond to the main questions: Do hierarchies in scientific knowledge production contribute to silencing subaltern voices and hiding a pluriverse approach when writing about Amazonia land issues? And if so, how? A systematic literature review was conducted using the scientific dissemination platforms Scielo, Scopus, and WoS. The results show a disproportionate representation of some stakeholders, and some states are used as near-total representatives for the Amazonia region. Furthermore, consideration of pluriversal perspectives in the articles does not guarantee high sensibility for heterogeneity of local contexts or for making subaltern voices heard.

Dalits Identity and Subaltern Voices in Samskara by U R. Ananthamurthy

The article explores the concept of Dalit identity and subaltern voices in India, especially in U. R. Ananthamurthy’s novel “Samskara,” it focused on the hegemonic hierarchy caste system. The central concept is the cremation of Naranappa's body, with Praneshacharya as the protagonist representing a spiritual and traditional person. The novel Samskara also explores the conflict between Hinduism and modern religions in India, highlighting the need for a better understanding of Dharma and cultural aspects. Samskara, a 1960s religious novel, is a powerful film exploring a decaying Brahmin colony in Karnataka, reworking ancient Hindu themes and providing a glossary of Hindu myths and customs. Naranappa represents a modern person, while Chandri and Belli represent Dalits. The novel explores elements of casteism, patriarchy, superstitious beliefs, and greedy personalities. Chandri not only sacrifice her jewelry, but sacrifices her body to Praneshacharya for cremation of Naranappa’s dead body. Belli also a low caste, they treated as sexual object. ‘Sripati doesn’t like to speak with Belli but he wants sleeps with her’. Who thinks that he would be polluted, if he speaks with her? He, however, does not think that touching of body, is not polluted?

Decolonizing Group Analysis: What does it mean?

Decolonizing is not a finite process with a beginning and an end, though there are signs that it is being taken up in that way. It is therefore in danger of being fetishised and incorporated into the very colonial system it sets out to call into question. It is instead an ongoing dialogue, a praxis involving both colonizers and decolonizers. And it is an internal struggle for decolonizers with the colonizing and colonized parts of ourselves. It calls into question all established theories and discourses of group analysis and of Western psychotherapy generally, embedded as they are in Western philosophical traditions and forms of ‘knowledge’. It supports the empowerment of subaltern voices addressing the unity of patriarchy, racism and class exploitation wherever they occur.

Bhai Vir Singh's Sundri: A semiotic reclamation of native meanings and imagination

ABSTRACT This paper backtracks many commentaries on Bhai Vir Singh's master piece novel Sundri, enunciated by scholars of Punjab studies, feminist studies, and critical theory. While contesting that these exegetical commentaries rendered by the scholars of aforesaid domains have displaced and decentered the spirit of the text, the paper presents a fresh lens that endeavors to redeem this important text and its spiritual essence. In doing so, we grapple to decolonize a subaltern voice, that we feel, has been reduced to a feeble murmur in the aura of assertive contestations and many interpretations dissecting the textual body of Sundri. The paper will also be published by Naad Pargaas as an introduction to Bhai Vir Singh's 'Sundri' that was translated from its 16th Punjabi edition by Prof. Puran Singh.

The dialectics of Chat: Privilege, power and institutional racism

The online Large Group promoted by the Group Analytic Society International in response to the Covid 19 lockdown, presented participants with the ‘Chat’ facility alongside the standard verbal communication. Chat rapidly became an alternative channel of communication and a forum for commentary, criticism and challenge to the primary spoken discourse of the group and became a home and a vehicle for disaffected and dissident voices, particularly those marginalized according to race, class and gender. Controversy has developed as various objections have been raised against Chat being allowed in GASi online Large Groups. In so far as Chat has become a place for marginalized and subaltern voices to speak and be ‘heard’, then closing it becomes a praxis of silencing and further institutionalizing racism, patriarchy and class oppression.

R.A. Kartini’s Letters: The Emergence of the Subaltern?

This study investigates R.A. Kartini’s letters to find out how her published letters represent the emerging of the subaltern voice. Using postcolonial criticism, this study scrutinizes ways in which Kartini’s letters show traces of the Dutch colonialism’s ideology and interprets the letters as challenging the Dutch’s purposes and hegemony. Focusing on Kartini’s concerns regarding colonized women’s position in society and their education, Kartini’s letters show her mimicry and ambivalence of her identity as a colonized subject. The publication of her letters enable her subaltern voice to be heard.

Silent Women in Mozambican Writer Lília Momplé's Short Stories

Lília Momplé, a Mozambican author, portrays the coexistence between black and white men and women in her works. By contesting the colonial legacy, the author contributes to the subaltern's voice. In this paper, we discuss how black characters, women in particular, in the short story collection No One Killed Suhura, are oppressed by colonialist societies. This text addresses the violence of social, racial, and sexual inequalities and the power relations established between colonizers and colonized during the twentieth century in Mozambique. We will see that some of the literary strategies used include the omniscient focus of the narrator, the relationship between history and literature, and irony.

Re-imagining Draupadi: Tracing the Journey from Nationalist Icon to Subaltern Voice in The Palace of Illusions

The research paper aims to explore the evolution of the character of Draupadi in the Indian epic Mahabharata and how she has been portrayed in various adaptations throughout history. From being a simple housewife in the original epic to a nationalist icon during the colonial and post-colonial eras, Draupadi has undergone significant transformations in the way she is depicted. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in subaltern studies, which seek to shed light on the experiences and perspectives of marginalized communities. As a result, Draupadi has been reimagined as a subaltern figure, exploring the complexities of her experiences as a subaltern woman and a victim of political manipulation. This paper focuses on the subaltern portrayal of Draupadi in the novel The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee, where she is depicted as a courageous and bold woman who defies societal expectations and reclaims her agency. The study highlights the significance of revisiting ancient texts and reinterpreting their characters in light of contemporary perspectives. This research paper provides ample evidence of Draupadi's transformation from a nationalist icon to a subaltern subject in the novel The Palace of Illusions.

Dialectics of Subaltern voices in Barbara Nimri Aziz’s Heir to a Silent Song

Heir to a Silent Song is a prose work by an American writer, anthropologist, critic and a vibrant researcher Barbara Nimri Aziz. Beside the delineation of her travel record and the rustic life of common people living in the eastern hills, the prose echoes the subaltern voices as a protest against evils and aberrations existing in the social system. As an epitome of the voices of the voiceless, it depicts the plight, the grievances and the pathos of basically two female rebels from the eastern hills of Nepal: Yogmaya and Durgadevi. Subaltern studies are the study of social protest, and the social exclusion and exploitation. Since subaltern refers to the group of oppressed, suppressed and marginalized people, Aziz ventures to portray them as the messiahs of subaltern people in her work. This paper strives to explore how Aziz delineates them as the representative figures of subaltern aesthetics. It attempts to answer the questions: “How do Yogmaya and Durga Devi represent subaltern voices? and what do they combat for? ”This research study conceptualizes the theoretical frameworks of subaltern theories to invigorate the study. Aziz presents how two women combat for female rights and justice for the poor and low class people in the contemporary society during Rana regime. The desperate struggle of two subaltern females against social evils like caste and gender discriminations, corruption, exploitation, fraudulent activities etc. is a striking thrust of the prose work.

Alienation in Ntshavheni Alfred Milubi’s poetry

In this article, I analyse the thematization of alienation in the poetry of the Muvenḓa poet, playwright, and scholar Ntshavheni Alfred Milubi. Milubi ascribes people’s abandonment of moral values to their perpetual frustrations, herein described as alienation. Reference is made to the crumbling African traditional institutions, which, in the past, seemingly functioned as havens for the rehabilitation of alienated individuals in African communities. These institutions are shown to be triggering alienation in the modernising and globalising space, seemingly with no room for recuperation unless one heeds the poet’s clarion calls. I restrict my analysis of Milubi’s poetry only to social and cosmic alienation, guided by a fixed set of themes, namely, from society, a romantic lover, and God, respectively. The article represents the idea that African-language literatures provide insights into how the indigenes have grappled with the interface between tradition and modernity. The three forms of alienation as treated by Milubi serve as a representative sample of how Tshivenḓa poetry in particular and African-language literatures in general often register subaltern voices and the ways in which they inscribe their experiences to explain their relationship with God or god(s), society, and intimate partners, among others. This trifocal relationship is essential to the Vhavenḓa and other African communities because it reveals their concept of cosmology, community, and intimacy.

Paul the Anargyros: History, God-talk, and Ecumenism in the Healing Praxis of Dr. Paul Farmer

Paul Farmer’s theological praxis took life at the intersection between the Gospel parable of Matthew 25:31-46, central to liberation theology, and his concern for historically responsible action “at the margins” of anthropology and medicine. The sui generis power of Farmer’s praxis was further shaped by his cultural humility, ecumenicity, and humor. This essay suggests, somewhat playfully, the image of Paul as an anargyros, one of those inexplicable and often idiosyncratic religious physicians of (mostly) Christian antiquity who refused money for their medical services, treating all in need in an ethic of equitable entitlement. Drawing on Paul’s well-known avoidance of god-talk, even in discussing liberation theology, this essay highlights the role of the anargyros in pragmatic religious pluralism, and the vital importance, emphasized throughout Farmer’s work, of a philosophy of health justice that is rooted in understanding and learning from subaltern voices in the historical narrative.

Thinking problem‐space in studies of revolt and archival methods

AbstractThis article engages with Jamaican anthropologist David Scott’s conceptual analytic of problem‐space and maps out the potential contributions problem‐space thinking can make to geographical studies of revolt and protest as well as archival methods. Scott's theory is broadened spatially through the introduction of space‐time geographies scholarship and in particular the spatial ontology of Massey. I suggest Scott's theory can compliment and advance the work of political and historical geographers seeking to produce more broadly spatialised and temporalised accounts of insurrections and political protests. Problem‐space thinking also develops efforts to recover subaltern voices and political motivations in such studies both empirically and methodologically.

Subaltern voices from the sertão : cultural history of broadside ballad in Brazil

This paper analyzes the role of cordel – the Brazilian contribution to the global tradition of the broadside ballad – as a reservoir of cultural memory of the Nordeste, the region where cordel took root in Brazil. Cordel is at once perceived as a repertoire of representations, images, and meanings that have shaped messages on social order. The focus here is on transformations that have occurred in cordel titles over time and, in particular, how gender and ethnicity have been represented in cordel texts during different periods and locations in a region that, even now, has been characterized by latifundism, the absence of the state, and abysmal social inequalities. To this end, the examination of cordel titles by José Francisco Borges (1935), Jarid Arraes (1991), and Auritha Tabajara (1980) in this context is grounded in a cultural studies framework. Among other perspectives, we engage with the question posed by Spivak to highlight the cordel as a venue in which the subaltern voices of the colonized and otherwise marginalized segments of Brazil's population have expressed themselves historically until the present. Whereas cordel traditionally represented a space in which the voices and concerns of ordinary Brazilians from the rural hinterland found their way into the public arena, new possibilities of publishing cordel post-2000 have opened it up to new narratives from the otherwise silenced actors of Brazilian society and history, including female authorship, and Afro-Brazilians and the Indigenous as protagonists of their own representation. This paper concludes by pointing to how cordel has been notably successful in accommodating Brazil's diverse social realities. Its narratives now speak in the multiple voices of the sertão, thus inviting its readership to rethink Brazil's cultural history, historical memory, and symbolic imaginaries.

Decolonising education: critical reflections from India

Educational development within the postcolonial Indian Nation-state is integrally connected with the colonial history. Much like other postcolonial nations, modernisation of Indian society through education is a product of the “local history” and the “global design” of colonialism and contemporary processes of globalisation. The modern colonial imaginary has been predominant in shaping the “subject lessons” learnt by modern Indian elites. Though there were missionaries, some benevolent Europeans, and native intellectuals committed to the cause of education for the uplift of the Indian masses, the British Raj mostly promoted the education for the elites. This modern colonial imaginary also shaped Indian nationalism and the nationalist freedom movement led by the elites of the Indian society. Within a diverse class, caste, multi-ethnic and religious context, often this nationalist imaginary led to the suppression of subaltern voices. The establishment of the Modern Indian nation-state with a democratic constitution drafted by a constituent assembly with representation from all sections of the diverse Indian society (including 15 women from diverse backgrounds) and chaired by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a dalit[i] scholar and intellectual, promised the establishment of democracy and social justice. However, this paper argues that the constitutional promise cannot be fulfilled without decolonising the aims and objectives of education that serves the interest of specific elite groups. In order to decolonise education, it would be of utmost importance to align the aims and objectives of education with that of democratic education.

Subaltern Voices in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines and The Hungry Tide.

Subaltern Voices in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines and The Hungry Tide.

The Negotiated Apology: “Double Ventriloquism” in Addressing Historical Wrongs

Abstract In this article, I analyze two recent diplomatic agreements between a colonizing state and a post-colonial state that address grave historical wrongdoings: the 2021 Germany–Namibia “Joint Declaration” regarding the colonial past and the 2015 Japan–South Korea “Joint Press Occasion” regarding Imperial Japan's use of so-called comfort women. These agreements point to an emerging trend of states openly negotiating, coordinating, offering, and accepting apologies. In analyzing these agreements, I re-pose Gayatri Spivak's classic question: Can the subaltern speak? Where Spivak demonstrates that the colonized subject is spoken for by both the colonizer and indigenous elites (and Western intellectuals), I demonstrate a similar process within these agreements. Specifically, a “double ventriloquism” occurs whereby both the (former) colonizing state and the post-colonial government collude to speak for the colonized in respect to offering a narrative of the wrongdoing, determining remedial measures, and agreeing that the issue is “closed.” Such collusion frames the state as the sole interlocutor in the transitional justice process and is an exercise in marginalizing subaltern voices in addressing the past. Nevertheless, where Spivak is pessimistic about the prospects of the subaltern speaking, I demonstrate that apologies inadvertently afford the colonized an opportunity to publicly disrupt official narratives and restate demands for justice.

French colonial publications and their situated re-presentations of native Algerian leadership (late 1840s–1860s)

ABSTRACT This article explores new ways to fruitfully investigate French colonial expedition diaries and memoirs, and help deconstruct what their authors framed as ‘historically accurate’ accounts of ‘pacification’ during the violent French military colonization of Algeria. How can we use such problematic sources in the absence of subaltern voices to counter the master narratives of these mid-nineteenth-century publications? As a way of reading them against the grain, this article proposes to shift the focus from their discursive representations of the colonized Other to the authors’ situated re-presentations of native Algerian chiefs and the embodied performance of their leadership. Such a performance-oriented approach with attention to acoustics is presented here as a perspective that may help differentiate between the colonial writers’ socio-cultural habitus and their political strategy when it comes to their misinterpretations of native Algerian expressions of loyalty and resistance. As (former) high-ranking officers and officials attached to the French army’s administrative sister institution (the bureaux arabes), or as novelists and interpreters joining the military campaigns, these authors claimed to rely on their own ear- and eyewitness accounts when describing what (a)political Arab or Berber leadership looked and sounded like. By exploring their representations of speech, silence, and performance during these encounters, we can trace the mechanisms by which they artificially separated spiritual and political authority, and ultimately failed to grasp how power worked in the colony.

Why Do Trees Need Herding? J. R. R. Tolkien’s Mastery of Trees in The Lord of the Rings

Why Do Trees Need Herding? J. R. R. Tolkien’s Mastery of Trees in The Lord of the Rings Mary-Anne Potter (bio) and Deirdre C. Byrne (bio) Introduction J. R. R. Tolkien is known to have loved trees and advocated for them against the forces of industrialization. He wrote to The Daily Telegraph in 1972: “In all of my works, I take the part of trees as against all their enemies” (419).1 The “enemies” of trees include industry and machines; the entire modern era of manufacture and sale of commodities; the densification of housing; and the demand for more edible crops to support livestock for meat. The Ents represent Tolkien’s righteous anger against those who would turn the trees into material for imperialist ends. Saruman needs timber for his war effort on behalf of Sauron, but the Ents do not take this kindly, and Saruman receives the punishment he deserves for mistreating the trees. The march of the Ents and Huorns to Isengard, which they destroy, inspired by the Birnam Wood march to Dunsinane to defeat a tyrant in Macbeth, is emblematic of Tolkien’s “tak[ing] the part of trees” in The Lord of the Rings (LotR).2 This article explores Tolkien’s advocacy of trees, particularly focusing on contrapuntal voices in his depiction of trees in LotR. Tolkien’s hierarchy of values is shown in that all his forests are cared for by human, or humanoid, stewards.3 Environmental critic John Elder defines stewardship in LotR as “faithful and discerning action on behalf of a beloved landscape and community . . . the knowledgeable and practical service of living communities” (Dickerson and Evans xi). This sounds very loving, but implies superior human knowledge and insight. The trees do not act or speak on their own and are not represented from their own perspective; they are always seen, [End Page 277] and spoken for, by their stewards. We trace Tolkien’s propensity to speak for trees to his Catholic humanism, which leads him to adopt a position of control and mastery4 over his fictive creations. The question of “who speaks?” reminds us of postcolonial theorizing about subaltern voice and agency,5 and raises concern about who has the right to speak and act. We begin with an exploration of Tolkien’s, specifically LotR’s, Catholic humanism. We then discuss non-humanist paradigms that we find useful in thinking about the portrayal of trees in LotR. Finally, we read the relationships between forests and their eco-stewards in LotR (Lothlórien, the Old Forest and Fangorn) diffractively through nonhumanist paradigms. For Barad, diffractive reading “place[s] the understandings that are generated from different (inter) disciplinary approaches in conversation with each other” (92–93) to “produce a new way of thinking about the nature of difference” (73). Our diffractive reading of LotR concludes that, while the novel constitutes a paean to trees, it also keeps its author’s humanism intact. A Liberal Humanist Love of Trees Tolkien’s love of trees permeated his capacity to make sense of his context and life events, as well as his self-expression in language. Further, Tolkien’s Catholic humanism directs his response to trees. First, he often used arboreal images in his personal writings. Following the death of fellow Inkling and close friend, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien wrote: “So far I have felt the normal feelings of a man of my age—like an old tree that is losing all its leaves one by one: this feels like an axe-blow near the roots” (“Letters” 258). He also refers to LotR as “my own internal tree” (“Letters” 341), implying that the story takes root and grows from within his psyche. The story appears to have been Tolkien’s inner Yggdrasil: a World Tree and the central axis of his inner world. Frodo’s journey to Mordor serves as the trunk, from which numerous branches grow: Aragorn’s ascension to the throne of Gondor; the war with Sauron and Saruman; Gandalf’s ascension to White Wizard; the Elves’ departure; the hobbits’ growth to warriors and their liberation of the Shire, and so on. Patrick Curry reinforces the arboreal emphasis when he describes Tolkien’s...

Racist Ideology and Hashtag Activism

Racist ideology is reproduced in daily communications and in art. Racism is also challenged. In this essay I explore the way ideology is present in Peter Drew’s ‘Monga Khan’ posters — artwork designed to provoke critical reflection about representations of race and Australian identity. Part I discusses the ideological engagement Peter Drew anticipated arising from his art ‘hactivism’ and critical reception of the work. I compare Drew’s oeuvre to 1970–80s protest posters, showing the effects of greater exposure to intellectual property constructs, marketing, and commercial branding on the ambition of art activism. Part II shows how attribution practices in the art world and media connect the politics of hactivist art with commodification. I discuss how ‘Blackness’, represented by Drew in the form of challenge to racialized ideas of Australian identity, functions as Drew’s ‘second skin’, or brand identity. Subaltern voices also challenge the authority of white artists to speak for the ‘Other’, but due to the way today we attribute ownership to image and voice, these protests metamorphise into a passing parade of objectified cultural difference. Part III draws out the implications for law, addressing the socio-legal reproduction of ideology, outside of relations normally identified with the lived experience of law.