<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gayatri Spivak once asked: Can the subaltern speak?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not because the silenced lack language,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but because the world is full of ears<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that only listen when a voice sounds familiar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So maybe the real question is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can you listen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not politely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not selectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But deeply-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with the willingness to be changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We like to think we know the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But knowing has always been political.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edward Said called it Orientalism-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
how the West didn\u2019t discover \u201cthe East,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but imagined it into being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not to understand,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but to control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Real people turned into symbols:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
exotic, backward, dangerous-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
never fully human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we still do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In textbooks that praise colonizers as explorers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the myth of the European miracle-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as if reason and science were born in a vacuum-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
untouched by Egypt, India, or the Islamic world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As if colonialism brought civilization,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
instead of extracting it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We say everyone has the right to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what good is that right<\/p>\n\n\n\n
if there\u2019s nowhere you\u2019re allowed to go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without the right documents,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
your freedom is just theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your life becomes an application,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a rejection,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a closed door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when they do arrive-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
their stories turn into headlines like migrants drown,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as if the sea is the problem-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
not the laws,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
not the fences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And still-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
we judge others quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We treat the headscarf like a symbol of oppression,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
rarely asking what it means to the woman who wears it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We condemn control in the name of religion,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
yet enforce control in the name of secularism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Western democracies,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
headscarves are often restricted in schools, courts, and offices-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the name of la\u00efcit\u00e9,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as if neutrality means disappearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We say we defend freedom,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but punish modesty when it doesn\u2019t look like ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s culture when it\u2019s ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s extremism when it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We strip away choice,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
then call it liberation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even those who claim to challenge power<\/p>\n\n\n\n
often speak in ways no one understands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What good is theory<\/p>\n\n\n\n
if it cannot reach the people it\u2019s meant to defend?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If clarity is sacrificed for prestige,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
if elitism wears the mask of insight,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the subaltern is still silenced-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
while academics chatter on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
difference is not the enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We need difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s how we know ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But othering exaggerates it,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
twists it,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
uses it to divide and dominate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It doesn\u2019t ask, \u201cWhat makes you unique?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It asks, \u201cWhy are you a threat?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It makes people into problems<\/p>\n\n\n\n before it sees them as people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It speaks about you<\/p>\n\n\n\n while pretending to speak for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It builds mirrors of fear<\/p>\n\n\n\n and asks you to see yourself through them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spivak\u2019s question still echoes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can the subaltern speak<\/p>\n\n\n\n in a world that only trusts certain accents,<\/p>\n\n\n\n only recognizes certain pain,<\/p>\n\n\n\n only listens when the story is easy to accept?<\/p>\n\n\n\n So maybe we need a new question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you hear what doesn\u2019t flatter you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you sit with discomfort<\/p>\n\n\n\n instead of reshaping it into something familiar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because as long as you only listen<\/p>\n\n\n\n to voices that echo your own,<\/p>\n\n\n\n the subaltern will keep speaking-<\/p>\n\n\n\n but you won\u2019t hear a thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This article was\u00a0written by\u00a0<\/strong>H\u00e9l\u00e9na Clinckart,\u00a0edited by<\/strong>\u00a0John Shotton<\/em> & Ala\u00efa Lafleur. Photo by Sam Mann<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gayatri Spivak once asked: Can the subaltern speak? Not because the silenced lack language, but because the world is full of ears that only listen when a voice sounds familiar. So maybe the real question is: Can you listen? Not [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2025"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2028,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions\/2028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeprojectmaastricht.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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