“Capturing Subaltern Voices” by Linje Manyozo under Reconstruction and Rediscovery is a critical exploration of how marginalized and oppressed communities often silenced within dominant development discourses can reclaim agency and articulate their own experiences.
Grounded in subaltern studies and informed by thinkers like Gayatri Spivak, Manyozo challenged the institutionalized oppression embedded in communication for development practices.
He critiqued the dominant paradigms that have historically suppressed subaltern voices and proposes a transformative approach he terms “deliberative development,” which emphasizes a pedagogy of listening, grounded in people’s history, culture, and lived experience.
The work is both a personal and scholarly journey, blending auto ethnographic insights with rigorous theoretical analysis to carve out methodological strategies that amplify subaltern agency and disrupt hegemonic knowledge systems in development communication.
The theory of Subaltern is probably one of the most complex concept in the study of development theories and concepts. Antonio Gramsci is the first to have used this word in his book “The Prison Note Book” written in prison to sell out his philosophies without be realized.
According to Gramsci, the Subaltern classes are not unified and cannot unite until they are able to become a state.
He stated that, even though the subalterns are not viable class, the fact that they are kept divided and cannot unite is what makes them unite. For Gramsci, the subaltern group is a less dominated group that exists within a hegemonic world order, but has no place in it. They are the silenced classes in society whose views are not considered at all in any way.
In this research, Linje Manyozo explored how we can capture and utilize subaltern voices in the development process in other to have them to be part of the development efforts made by agents of change by synthesizing the views of some scholars like; Djabar, Fanon, Spivak, Freire, Foucault and several others.
Most of these scholars have written widely on the perspective of the Subaltern and the power they possess to transform their societies rather than waiting to be spoken for by some intellectuals.
Although they disagree on some issues, they dominantly agreed on several issues especially indicating that, the Subaltern can speak for them, hence should be allowed to represent them since they alone know what they want in terms of development and transformation.
The subaltern classes are those individuals or groups that are subjugated by hegemony, subordinated by the dominant world-view, and excluded from having any meaningful position from which to speak.
Borrowing from Spivak (1988), a subaltern as a position is not necessarily an identity, it is important to note that, sometimes the subaltern as a perspective is used interchangeably with oppressed classes.
However, Manyozo believe it has major implication for development thinking and practice. He stressed that, even if a development practitioner is white, a westerner or an outsider, they can speak and unspeak development alongside oppressed communities so long as they acquire the subaltern perspective.
Activities around the Niger Delta as a place of troubles, suffering and grief, a place of exploitation and resistance, where the people who clamour for change become a treat to themselves and their existence, where every family is psychologically arrested and devastated by the activities of militants and their leaders.
The Niger Delta is a human habitat of misery, nightmare, aborted dreams, and a place where human choices, hopes and expectations are scuttled and ridiculed by negative but domineering choices, hopes and aspirations of the conqueror. It is a land where visions of hope and prolonged struggles of repression and resistance by reactionary and revolutionary forces are constantly at daggers drawn.
The Niger Delta is one of such human environments held down in a calamitous way by ideological cruelty and corporate violence, betrayals and institutional intimidation.
The process of leadership in Ghana is a marginalizing one. It oppresses the poor to remain poor and the rich to remain rich especially that decisions are made by the rich in society.
Spivak (1988) discussed the perspective of the subaltern as one without a voice hence must be represented. However for Spivak, considering these subaltern voices is imperative if these groups are to be involved in development policy formulation and implementation, otherwise she warns “the subaltern as female cannot be heard or read”.
Our political system is unidirectional in the sense that, the views of the actual users of development interventions are not considered before they are given. It is assumed that, they are poor and have no choice to choose what they wish for hence are not considered before interventions are sited.
Manyozo also said, in the Patriarchal society, the world is gradually becoming a place where women and minority groups voices are not considered as relevant as those who control and wile power. By wearing the veil as Fanon alludes, women demonstrate that, their lives are controlled by the men and in fact they live for them.
According to Linje, wearing of the veil was seen as a sign of oppression. Over a century earlier, Delacroix who later produced the famous painting of the Women of Algiers in their Apartment which showed the sign of liberation of the women unveiled.
This began to prove as Fanon observes that with more and more Algerian women becoming unveiled, the colonial occupiers strengthened their resolve and believed that the defense mechanisms of the oppressive Algerian society had been breached, and was thus “in the process of dislocation” according to Fanon, 1965 research.
In the part of the country, women suffer very similar fate since they have no voices. They do not contribute to decision making, own land and livestock among others. This has made them Subaltern.
Linje opines that the voices of the Subaltern are very relevant in getting development efforts to be consolidated. This also means that, for the subaltern groups to be empowered, they must realize they are marginalized and begin work to liberate themselves from their marginalized groups. Spivak is of the view that when the Subaltern speaks it no longer remains as subaltern, so subalterns are marginalized people who have no voice, people who find it difficult to speak.
The nitty-gritty of Spivak’s argument is that, the subalterns are not people who can be represented by privileged people. They are subjects who should speak for themselves. They should be inventors and masters of their own voices. It is only when the subaltern speaks for themselves that they can cease to be subaltern subjects. This is an emphasis on the self-reflexivity of the subaltern.
Linje Manyozo’s Capturing Subaltern Voices stands as a powerful and necessary intervention in the field of development communication. It compellingly argued that, true equitable development is impossible without fundamentally shifting power dynamics to center the voices, knowledge, and agency of the subaltern with those systematically marginalized and silenced by dominant structures.
Through a potent critique of existing top-down, externally imposed development paradigms, Manyozo exposed how these approaches perpetuate epistemic violence and deny the subaltern their rightful place as authors of their own futures.
The book’s greatest strength lies in its move beyond critique to propose a transformative alternative: deliberative development.
This framework, grounded in a deep “pedagogy of listening,” challenges practitioners and scholars to engage authentically with subaltern communities. It demands a commitment to understanding their unique histories, cultural contexts, and lived experiences as the essential foundation for any meaningful intervention.
Manyozo’s integration of auto ethnography provides a vital methodological and ethical model, demonstrating how personal positionality and reflexivity are crucial for ethical engagement.
Ultimately, Capturing Subaltern Voices is more than an academic work; it is a call to action and a blueprint for justice. It provides a rigorous theoretical foundation and practical methodological toolkit for dismantling hegemonic knowledge systems.
By prioritizing subaltern agency and centering their self-representation, Manyozo charts a path towards a development practice that is truly participatory, emancipatory, and capable of fostering genuine social transformation.
The book is essential reading for anyone committed to ethical communication and equitable development in a postcolonial world.
The writer holds an M.Phil. Development Communication BA. Development Communication, Dip. Community Development) and staff of Tamale Technical University, [email protected], +233546365568.
