Spivak (1988), "Can the Subaltern Speak?"

1. Western academic thought serves Western economic interests.

Spivak (1988) argues that knowledge is always biased and never innocent. Knowledge always serves the interests of its producers. Western academic research will also be biased and favor Western investments like colonialism.

2. Research about subjects in the two-thirds world is generally part of the colonial project.

As Spivak (1988) points out, all research is already colonial since it identifies an "Other" or "over there" subject that is distant from the researcher. This subject contains something valuable, which should be gathered for the benefit of scholarship. In this situation, Spivak (1988) argues, discourses about the Other are generally articulated through the hegemonic framework of language.

3. The West is talking to itself in its own language about the Other. This prevents the subaltern from speaking.