subaltern

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical British military usage: a commissioned army officer below the rank of captain, such as a lieutenant

   The young subaltern joined his regiment shortly before it sailed overseas.

2. 2
   adj

   lower or subordinate in rank, status, authority, or importance

   He accepted a subaltern administrative post with little power over policy.

3. 3
   noun

   in social and postcolonial theory, a person or group excluded from dominant structures of political representation and power

   The study asks how subaltern communities can preserve histories omitted from official archives.

Through French subalterne from Late Latin subalternus, formed from sub-, 'under,' + alternus, 'one after another.' The military noun denoted a junior officer; Antonio Gramsci and later postcolonial theorists broadened subaltern for socially and politically subordinated groups.

Topics

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