History as Palimpsest. Notes on Subalternity, Alienation, and Domination in Gramsci, De Martino, and Fanon

Abstract

The article aims at considering a number of issues common to the theoretical projects of Gramsci, de Martino, and Fanon, though the context of their work and their life trajectories was so different. More particularly, my analysis takes into consideration the debate on folklore and its natural opposition to hegemonic world representations; the special role of protest and historical consciousness among subalterns; the value of a “symptomatic reading” (Althusser) of history, able to recognize those fractures, silences, and contradictions that are often forgotten by official history, or just classified as signs of alienation. This perspective allows us to see history as a palimpsest, and the subalterns’ speech recognizable only when we explore all the strata that compose their history.