Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 24 February 1942) is an Indian literary theorist, philosopher and University Professor at Columbia University, where she is a founding member of the school's Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.[1] She is best known for the essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?" considered a founding text of postcolonialism; and for her translation of, and introduction to Jacques Derrida's De la grammatologie. In 2012 she was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy for being "a critical theorist and educator speaking for the humanities against intellectual colonialism in relation to the globalized world".[2] She received the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award given by the Republic of India, in 2013.[3]
Spivak is best known for her contemporary cultural and critical theories to challenge the "legacy of colonialism" and the way readers engage with literature and culture. She often focuses on the cultural texts of those who are marginalized by dominant western culture: the new immigrant, the working class, women, and other positions of the subaltern

Gayatri Spivak's most recent text, A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, brings together in a single volume a wide range of her work in postcolonial studies…She weaves together these multiple levels of critique brilliantly, presenting a rigorous reading of the discourses of imperialism… A Critique of Postcolonial Reason presents a scrupulous discussion of imperialism in European philosophy, literature, history, and culture.