Subaltern Sexiiness

Through personal experience of the World Social Forum (WSF) held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2007, the author explores how an uncritical politics of representation has come to characterise spaces like the WSF and the new social movements and organisations of which it is composed and spaces that claim to be creating ‘another world’ in which racial, gender and class inequalities do not prevail. The article argues that, in neglecting to acknowledge the mediation of subaltern voices by middle-class activists, academics, researchers, NGO-workers, and so on, claims to ‘give voice’ to those who traditionally have been denied access to forms and modes of representation common to politics in capitalist society tend to reinforce inequalities as they deny the existence of difference amongst activists. For those writing about social movements, the article suggests that greater attention be given to what the structures of representation in society prevent the subaltern from saying, and to try to understand the logics and rationalities particular to different groups and communities of political actors.