Holberg bestowed on Spivak for groundbreaking work in literary theory, philosophy
Times of India | 18 March 2025
Kolkata: Kolkata-born literary critic and postcolonial scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has been awarded the 2025 Holberg Prize—the closest equivalent to the Nobel in the field of humanities, social sciences, law or theology research—for her groundbreaking work in literary theory and philosophy.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday congratulated Spivak "on her attaining yet another top international recognition". Banerjee, in a social media post, said she was "charmed by her (Spivak's) long and sustained association with pro-poor voluntary services in some remote villages of West Bengal".
The statement from the Holberg Prize committee read: "Spivak is considered one of the most influential global intellectuals of our time, and she has shaped literary criticism and philosophy since the 1970s. She receives the prize for her groundbreaking interdisciplinary research in comparative literature, translation, postcolonial studies, political philosophy and feminist theory." The citation also stated she was "committed to an interdisciplinary critique of structures of power and knowledge in an unequal world" and "as a public intellectual and activist, Spivak combats illiteracy in marginalised rural communities across several countries, including in West Bengal, India, where she has founded, funded and participated in educational initiatives".
About the importance of the humanities as an academic field, Spivak told the Holberg committee that humanities must be supported as they taught the practice of learning rather than necessarily the production of knowledge. "No amount of merely being able to use knowledge as intellectual property can lead to a democratic and just society if we have not gone into training in the practice of learning," she said.
Spivak completed her graduation in English at Presidency College in 1959, back when the institute was under Calcutta University. She did her PhD from Cornell University in 1967. Since 2007, she had been a University Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where she is also a founding member of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.
Professors, Presidency University and Calcutta University alumni and academics felt the award was an acknowledgement of the influence of Spivak's works on the humanities community across the globe. Historian Dipesh Chakrabarty, postcolonial theory and subaltern studies scholar, said, "She has made us all proud. It's a big recognition of the various contributions she has made to a variety of fields in the humanities. Her ‘Can the Subaltern Speak??' will continue to be discussed for the questions it raised. As a fellow academic, I am delighted."
Political scientist and anthropologist Partha Chatterjee, founding member of Subaltern Studies Collective, said, "Gayatri Spivak is a leading literary scholar of our time. The prize is richly deserved." Chatterjee is the professor emeritus at the department of anthropology at Columbia University. "As a literary critic and thinker, she is one of the leading lights who have changed our perception of literature, history and society. Her originality is awesome and her influence on us is sans pareil," said essayist and translator Chinmoy Guha, also CU's professor emeritus.
Pointing out that not Presidency or Bengal alone but the entire country needed to celebrate the award, Presidency English department professor Sumit Chakrabarti said, "She's the first Indian to have won the prize. Both as an academic and as a public intellectual, she continues to hone and nurture the spirit of enquiry, dissent and intervention."
Spivak received DLitt (honoris causa) in 2014 from Presidency University, where she attended the the bicentenary celebration and also delivered a lecture during the celebration of the life and work of Ranjit Guha in 2022. Presidency registrar Debajyoti Konar said, "We are delighted and proud to know that Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has been honoured with Holberg Prize. This would motivate the faculty members and students alike from the humanities and literature background as they pave the way in future towards achieving excellence." Presidency alumni association vice-president Bivas Chaudhuri said, "We, with the Presidency English department, plan to celebrate her award by inviting her at her convenient time."