Back to the Basics

Week 1
Some issues to mull over and look up as you read the texts for week 1. The list is not meant to be prescriptive, simply a checklist to guide you through the basic concepts. Try to weave in some responses to these questions into your reading journals, but as I said, that is not compulsory.

1. What is the meaning of 'subaltern'? How did the term originate? What was the need for subaltern studies?
2. What is the difference between a 'minority' and a 'subaltern'? Who would be subaltern in the following categories - gender, sexuality, class, race? Can one be 'subaltern' in one category and 'elite' in another at the same time?
3. Does the fact that a university educated scholar like Sekhar-da or Dipesh-da is writing a publishable book/article about a subaltern community, using academic language, help in getting the story of that community across to a wider readership that would otherwise not have known the story? What are the issues you think are highlighted by this?
4. In colonial/postcolonial states, why is the writing of history such a contentious matter?
5. When writing the (his)tory of any community (including the 'imaginary community' of the nation) does it matter from whose perspective the story is being told? Why?
6. Can a 'majority' community be subaltern?
7. Do you think that if a person from 'within' a community writes the (his)tory of his/her community, it will be a more 'authentic' narrative than one by an 'outsider'?
8. When the subaltern is a person or community from the past, and can no longer speak, and has left no written records, can the voice of the subaltern be retrieved? How can literature help in this matter?
9. Think about the epics that you have read - Ramayana and Mahabharata. Are certain figures being deliberately rendered marginal? Are there certain dominant attitudes and values in these texts that exclude/marginalise some people on the grounds of gender/caste/race/class? What figures might you term 'subaltern' in these epics?
10. Assuming that you have grown up in Bengal, what has been your experience of prejudices held by people around you, eg. in matters of intercaste marriage, or the persistence of caste differences in various religious ceremonies, etc? Do you think that Bengal is a 'peaceful' place where caste tensions are non-existent compared to Maharashtra, UP, Tamil Nadu etc. and why/not? Do you think 'caste' has been overshadowed by 'class' as the arena of struggle in Bengal?