Religion, Contention, and Subaltern Agency: A Gramscian Reappraisal

As published in the Volume 3(1) of Ramjas Political Review

Abstract

This paper questions the argument that religion, hitherto discarded as a tool of hegemonic domination, can strangely function as a modality of subaltern agency. Relying especially on Antonio Gramsci's Notebook 25, the paper contends that religion is neither altogether an ‘opiate’ nor a mere ‘echo of ruling-class ideology’, but rather a space of intense contention where domination and dissent coexist. Whereas most of the secondary literature simplifies Gramsci's subaltern to an economic identity ‘coded as proletariat’, the paper is interested in how the subaltern negotiates its contradictions around the double role of religion, which Dorothee Sölle has outlined as both ‘apologia’ and ‘protest’.

Keywords: Subaltern agency, Gramsci, Religion, Hegemony, Common sense

To read: Link

The author, Hitesh, is a student at Indian Institute of Technology, Patna.

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