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She was born Gayatri Chakravorty, in Calcutta, West Bengal, 24 February 1942, to a middle class family. She did her undergraduate in English at the University of Calcutta (1959), graduating with first class honours. After this she completed her Master's in English from Cornell University and then pursued her Ph.D. while teaching at University of Iowa. Her dissertation was on Yeats, directed by Paul de Man, titled Myself Must I Remake: The Life and Poetry of W.B. Yeats .
It was her subsequent work on Derrida's "Of Grammatology" which was a turning point for the self-confessed "insecure intellectual". She managed to apply Derridan deconstructivism to everything from Feminism and Marxism, to Literary Criticism and Post-Colonialism. Criticised by all the camps of thought she ventured into with her tools, she describes herself as a "para-disciplinary, ethical philosopher".
Spivak coined the term "strategic essentialism" which is critical for understanding how post-modernists can achieve a sort of temporary solidarity for the purpose of social action. For example, most feminists refuse to recognize "woman," or terms or concepts that portray woman as a collection of "essences." In other words, all women are individuals, and all attempts to make generalizations about them is wrong. This attitude makes it difficult for feminists to work for causes that may help fight oppression. "Strategic essentialism" allows feminists to temporarily accept an "essentialist" position about women specifically for the purpose of social action.