Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak honoured with Kyoto Prize

Renowned literary critic and educator Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was awarded the prestigious Kyoto Prize in Kyoto on 10 November 2012. Instituted by the Inamori Foundation, the prize honours those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind.

Spivak, professor at Columbia University, won  the award in the Arts and Philosophy category for her “deep thinking on humanities against intellectual colonialism in relation to globalisation”.

US computer scientist Ivan Sutherland, regarded as a father of computer graphics, won the Advanced Technology Prize while Japanese molecular biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the Basic Sciences Prize. Each laureate received a diploma, a 20K gold Kyoto Prize medal and a cash gift of 50 million yen ($630,000).