Subalternity and RepresentationThe term subalternity refers to a condition of subordination brought about by colonization or other forms of economic, social, racial, linguistic, and or cultural dominance. Subaltern studies is, therefore, a study of power. Who has it and who does not. Who is gaining it and who is losing it. Power is intimately related to questions of representationto which representations have cognitive authority and can secure hegemony and which do not and cannot.