Gayatri Spivak
In A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, Spivak uses a story to illustrate the subalter. Bhubaneswari Bhaduri killed herself because she was entrusted with a political assassination and she could not go through with it. She killed herself while she was menstrating so people would know she wasn't pregnant. However, her message is silenced by her family because no one will tell or talk about why she killed herself. Her family tells people they can look that information up in the records. This illustrated the subaltern even though she technically wasn't truly one. Her death is an example of ad hoc. She tries to give a message through it, but she is still silenced. This is why she is related to subalterns. She feels she cannot have her voice heard, so she does something extreme to make it heard. She makes sure no one misinterprets her death to be because of an illegitimate child.
Below is a video of Spivak being interviewed.
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