Hello friends, this power point presentation from the African literature and here we try to identify two topics. One is identity and second is imperialism. Thank you!

1. Identity & Imperialism in Waiting For
The Barbarians
By: Prinjal & Prakruti

2. Identity

3. Identity & the Post Colonial
Discourse:
• Decolonized people develop a post colonial
identity that is based on cultural interactions
between different identities, which are assigned
varying degrees of social power by the colonial
society.
• Identity based on various aspects like cultural,
national and ethnic as well as gender and class
based.
• One of the principal elements in colonial and post
colonial literature is the encounter with the
“Other”.

4. • J. M. Coetzee's novel Waiting for the Barbarians
abounds with idea on colonialism, issue of identity and
torture.
• The novel is set in an isolated outpost, unspecified in
time and space, where two cultures like, the Empire
and the Barbarians are set against one another.
• 'Waiting for the Barbarians' is the story of the
Magistrate of the empire narrated in the first person.
He is identified only by his role as a Magistrate and is
never given a significant name.
• He says, "When I pass away I hope to merit three lines
of small print in the Imperial gazette. I have not asked
for more than a quiet life in quiet times."

5. • In the second part of the novel, Coetzee portrays
the Barbarian girl who is blind and helpless. The
magistrate tries hard to escape from his identity
with the empire by entertaining associations with
the barbarian girl.
• The girl like most of Coetzee's silent figures is
silent to the core because, she has no voice to tell
her own story.
• The tortured body of the girl is as
incomprehensible, as is her identity.

6. The Barbarian
Identity:
• Who are real barbarians according to their
own identity? Those who are like savage,
primitive person living outside the formal laws
and customs of civilization. In the novel, they
are called nomadic and live in nearby
mountains and desert.
• "The Other"- In psychoanalytic criticism, 'the
other' is that which defines and limits the self.

7. Imperialism

8. Imperialis
m:
• The belief in empire building
• The idea of an empire
• What does an empire do?
• How does an empire function?
• An empire as a hegemonic as well as hierarchical
structure.

9. Coetzee’s
Empire:
• Abstract Figurehead
• “Defines itself and reinforces its identity by
constructing a distance from the Barbarians.”
• “Sees itself as a modern state- an evolved
version of the “primitive” Barbarians.”

10. So What?
• Coetzee’s work helps us to picturize and
understand of the dark realities of the
colonial times in the post colonial era.
• The empire continues to flourish in newer
forms and names even in the post colonial
era.
• Why are we so afraid of the Barbarians?
• Empire- unity or marginalization?

11. Works Cited:
• Neimneh, Shadi. "Imperial Nationalism in J.M.
Coetzee's “Waiting For The Barbarians.” Arab World
English Journal (AWEJ) 06.1 (2016): 20. web. 28
November 2019.
<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_
id=2834430>.

12. Thank You