Piu, Piermarco (2020) The production, transnational circulation and re articulation of the ‘subaltern question’ from Gramsci to Postcolonial studies. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The ‘subaltern question’ cuts across various intellectual endeavours –from Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks in the 1930s, through the Italian folklore debates and British ‘history from below’ during the 1950s-1960s, to Subaltern Studies in the 1980s and, more recently, Postcolonial studies. This circulation has also extended to broader debates in the social sciences. For example, postcolonial perspectives in sociology have made reference to the role that the ‘subaltern question’ plays in the construction of new sociologies and social theories of ‘the modern’ and ‘the global’. Further sociological debates have mobilised the resources of Subaltern Studies in order to develop social theories regarding the politics of subaltern groups in the Global South, particularly in India.

The aim of this thesis is to map the transnational circuits whereby the ‘subaltern question’ was produced, circulated and re-articulated and to consider the implications of this for current debates in the social sciences.

The ‘subaltern question’ circulated across heterogeneous times and institutional and political contexts, and it was re-articulated within different theoretical and political frameworks. This thesis reflects on the problems, solutions and applications raised by these re-articulations. In particular, it uses these reflections to interrogate the ways in which ‘the subaltern’ contributes to social theories developed in the social sciences debates, considering their various deployments of subalternity, as well as their respective strengths and limitations. Notwithstanding the risk of commodifying subalternity, this thesis argues that emancipatory spaces can be carved out of the hegemonic relation between sociology and subalternity by challenging –although never completely subverting –the hierarchies and social practices between intellectual and subaltern groups. As such, this thesis puts forward the idea of a ‘subaltern theoretical direction’ grounded on a practice of conricerca. This is proposed as a novel and politically effective way of engaging ‘spontaneous’ subaltern contributions, such that the hierarchies are reconsidered in terms of their articulation withina ‘single cultural environment’.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GR Folklore H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration J Political Science > JZ International relations
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Postcolonialism, Postcolonialism -- Social aspects, Postcolonialism -- Italy, Hegemony, Folklore -- Italy -- Political aspects, Gramsci, Antonio, 1891-1937 -- Criticism and interpretation
Official Date:	December 2020
Dates:	Date Event December 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Sociology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Bhambra, Gurminder K. ; Osuri, Goldie
Sponsors:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain)
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	302 leaves
Language:	eng

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