At a time when the region of Central and Eastern Europe is considered a dominant example of democratic backsliding with authoritarian tendencies, this monograph aims to provide a critical approach to minority issues. By carving out the philosophical implications of the notion of subalternity, Trupia draws particularly on Antonio Gramsci’s philosophy of praxis and his scholarly legacy in order to debunk societal models of liberal multiculturalism and their hegemonic discourse. This monograph is not only an attempt to unravel power-centred fabrication of subordination resulting from hierarchic methods of doing politics and imposing cultural ascriptions upon certain segments of society. It also deals with subalternity as a “perspective of opportunity” through the lens of complex identity positions of minority groups and their changes through time.

Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION: Philosophy and Minority Studies. What is at Stake?

Part I: GENESIS, MATERIALISATION, BOUNDARIES, AND MEANINGS OF “MINORITY” AS SUBALTERN OTHERNESS

CHAPTER ONE. Setting the Scene

CHAPTER TWO. Minority Identities in Central and Eastern Europe: A Critical Overview

CHAPTER THREE. Post-Communism and Post-Colonialism: Do They Mirror Each Other?

Part II: THE MAKING AND THE RE-MAKING OF SUBALTERNS: A GRAMSCIAN PERSPECTIVE

CHAPTER FOUR. Antonio Gramsci and Subaltern Cultures: Fundamental Remarks

CHAPTER FIVE. 1989 “Organic Crisis” and Post-Communist Positionality of Minority Groups

CHAPTER SIX. “(Re-)thinking Subalternity and the Necessity of Hegemony

CHAPTER SEVEN. Gramsci’s Way Out: Subaltern Mobilisation and the Role of Intellectuals

CHAPTER EIGHT. The Paradox of Hegemonic (In-)Tolerance

CHAPTER NINE. Gramscianism: Marxism Otherwise?

OPEN CONCLUSIONS

CHAPTER TEN. In Search of a New Praxis