Not “Studying the Subaltern,” but Studying With “Subaltern” Social Groups, or, at Least, Studying the Hegemonic Articulations of Power

DANIEL MATO

Nepantla. Views from the South

Duke University

Lugar: Durham, North Carolina, Estados Unidos; Año: 2000 vol. 1 p. 479 - 502

1527-0858

&amp;lt;!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0pt; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:none; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.apple-style-span {mso-style-name:apple-style-span; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 85.05pt 70.85pt 85.05pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --&amp;gt; <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Granjon; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Granjon-Italic; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0pt; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 85.05pt 70.85pt 85.05pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> This paper discusses the idea of “studying the subaltern,” a central element of the Latin American Subaltern Studies Group (LASSG), enunciated in their founding statement. Considering the founding statement’s general orientation, as well as the work of most LASSG members, one can assume that “studying the subaltern” does not entirely define the project’s character. Nevertheless, it is a critical aspect of the statement, and, in my view, is ethically, politically, and epistemologically problematic, demanding criticism. In fact, this goal should not remain in the founding statement of such an intellectual project, because it is reminiscent of the area studies tradition. However, this idea’s presence in the statement is not an accident. The  notion of “studying the subaltern”and the legacy behind it reflect the institutional context of the group’s inception. It is not incidental that the group emerged from the U.S. university context and is devoted to studying cases in a particular “region”or “area”of the world outside the United States: Latin America. It seems to me that regardless of the group’s critical orientation,these circumstances have contributed to an acritical maintenance of the area studies tradition. Foucault’s L’ordre du discours (1980 [1971]) is suggestive here because it emphasizes how mechanisms of control and the delimitation of discourses oblige us to consider the institutional context of the production of this particular discourse, thereby helping us explore bothits biases and possible ways of transforming it.