Postcolonial theorizations of the "subaltern" have had a significant impact on critical debates on marginality, representation, and voice. But its relevance to Indigenous contexts, especially in settler colonial settings, is problematic. This paper explores the extent to which the subaltern captures the sovereignty, political autonomy, and epistemic difference of Indigenous peoples. Using the lens of settler colonial studies and Indigenous political theory, the paper will contend that the subaltern category is used to focus on silencing structures, although it seems to subsume Indigenous struggles within a general discourse of marginality, thus obliterating the claim to sovereignty and nationhood. Reflecting on the politics of representation, voice, and the ontological differences between subalternity and Indigeneity, the paper puts forward a recasting of Spivak's phrase in relation to Indigenous resistance and self-determination. Ultimately, it suggests that Indigenous peoples are not only subaltern but sovereign political actors whose struggles are not merely subaltern.

Keywords: Subaltern, Indigenous sovereignty, settler colonialism, representation, epistemic violence, political agency.