Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Wins 2025 Holberg Prize

Renowned literary critic and postcolonial scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has been awarded 2025 Holberg Prize, one of most prestigious international honors in humanities, social sciences, law, and theology. Spivak, a University Professor in Humanities at Columbia University, will receive award during a formal ceremony at University of Bergen, Norway, where H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway will confer prize.

Citation Highlights

The award recognizes Spivak as a “critique of structures of power and knowledge in an unequal world” and commends her efforts to combat illiteracy in marginalized rural communities across several countries, making her a highly deserving recipient of the honor.

About Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak:

• Birth and Early Life: Born in 1942 in Kolkata, Spivak gained prominence for her essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988), which examines the place of women in colonial India and how marginalized voices have been historically excluded from dominant knowledge systems. This essay has profoundly influenced postcolonial and feminist scholarship.
  
• Focus on Translation: A key aspect of Spivak’s intellectual work is translation, which she views as a “profoundly philosophical and political act”.
  
  • She has translated works of Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi and French-Algerian philosopher Jacques Derrida, gaining worldwide acclaim for her efforts to bridge linguistic and cultural divides.
  • Spivak also introduced the term ‘planetarity’, a critique of capitalist globalization that emphasizes a more interconnected and ethical approach to global issues.
• Honors and Fellowships:
  • Fellowships and Memberships:
    • Corresponding Fellow at the British Academy.
    • Guggenheim Fellow.
    • Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
  • Major Awards:
    • Kyoto Prize in Art and Philosophy (2012).
    • Padma Bhushan (2013) – One of India’s highest civilian honors.
    • Modern Language Association Lifetime Scholarly Achievement Award (2018).
    • Spivak has also received over 50 faculty awards and holds 15 honorary doctorates from universities worldwide.

About Holberg Prize:

The Holberg Prize is an annual award given to scholars for outstanding contributions in the fields of humanities, social sciences, law, and theology. Often regarded as the Nobel Prize equivalent for the humanities, it carries a monetary reward of NOK 6 million (approx. USD 550,000).

• Named After: The prize is named after Ludvig Holberg, a Danish-Norwegian writer who excelled in the sciences covered by the award.
• Award Process: The laureate is announced each year in March, and the award is presented during the Holberg Week in Bergen, Norway, typically in June. The Holberg Board awards the prize based on the recommendations of the Holberg Committee.