2021, (6): 30-41.
Abstract:
To answer the question " how to understand the educatee in education development", this study focuses on Spivak's concept of "subaltern". In her opinion, the subaltern can be described as "someone who has no access to social mobility" or " someone who is cut off from the lines of mobility ". As the object of educational development, the subaltern has dual vulnerability. On the one hand, there are "three barriers" in front of the subaltern, namely environmental barrier, historical barrier and discourse barrier, which show "the vulnerability of condition". To separate the particular group of subaltern from the condition caused their subaltern status in a certain situation, Spivak, based on the " subject-effect", adopted Gramsci's approach. That is, using high-quality education to help the subaltern gain the ability to lift themselves from the hard situation. On the other hand, the asymmetric listening and speaking relationship and epistemic violence reflect " the vulnerability of relationship" between educatee and educator in educational development. The donor, as the listener and reader, has the right to explain the recipient. The donor with epistemic violence is not only producing knowledge about the subaltern, but also actively engaged in the project of transforming the subaltern's knowledge according to the produced knowledge. Opposing the old epistemic violence may lead to a new epistemic violence, and this is the aporia of educational development. From the perspective of subaltern, educational development can be understood as the rewriting of the educatee who is seen as a text. Rewriting is violent. The difficulty that Spivak has to face is how to properly use the violence in educational development to extricate the subaltern from the dual vulnerability.
