Postcolonial Identity · English Literature

The term 'Subaltern' was originally borrowed from the work of Antonio Gramsci to describe:

  1. The high-ranking commissioned officers who command colonial military forces
  2. The academic and intellectual elite who produce and publish postcolonial theory
  3. Social groups excluded from the established structures of political representation
  4. The physical and administrative borders separating a colony from its metropolitan center
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Correct answer: Social groups excluded from the established structures of political representation

In postcolonial studies, the subaltern represents those marginalized by class, caste, age, gender, or office. Spivak's famous critique focuses on whether these groups can ever truly 'speak' within a discourse dominated by elite or colonial frameworks.

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