Subaltern Studies and the Postcolonial

This newest volume in the Mapping series offers the first comprehensive balance-sheet of the Subaltern Studies Project, an intervention in South Asian history and politics, which has recently generated a powerful impact in Latin American, Irish, and African Studies.Initially inspired by Antonio Gramsci's writings on the history of subaltern classes, the Subaltern Studies authors adopted a 'history from below' paradigm to contest 'elite' history writing of Indian nationalists, from the left and right. Later the Project shifted away from its social history origins by drawing upon eclectic thinkers such as Edward Said, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida.