G. C. Spivak’s “Responsibility”: An Attempt to Conceptualize an Ethic for the Subaltern in Educational Development

Abstract

Regarding the human rights theory and its ethics dominating educational development, Spivak reminded people that such top-down generosity did not reach the oppressed subaltern. Due to the lack of critical perspective, human rights-based ethic is likely to alienate subaltern and lead to problematic behavioral patterns that "impose values" based on power. Moreover, the prosperity of human rights and its ethics characterized by narcissism suppressed the possibility of establishing an alternative ethic for the subaltern who was always represented. In Spivak's view, the unconditional ethic of such a subaltern is the "responsibility", the ability to respond to the call of others. Responsibility is the ethical symbolism of the first language acquisition, an unlearning of one's privileges, and an experience of the wholly other. The supporter must train their responsibility through imagination in order to help the subaltern. Spivak emphasizes the role of humanities (especially translation) in training such ethic. Translation, as the most intimate reading, enables the translator to responds to the traces of the other while yielding to the text.