Spivakian Study of Strategic Essentialism in the Autumn of the Patriarch and Waiting for the Barbarians in Post-colonial Literature

Abstract

In 1980, an Indian Post-colonial theorist and critic, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak publicized strategic
essentialism as a major concept in postcolonial theory. She defined it as a special form of essentialism
which involves greater scopes of post-colonial studies such as subaltern, otherness, and strategic
essentialism. The present paper shows to what extent Spivakian concepts are recognizable through
characters of the Autumn of the Patriarch and Waiting for the Barbarians. The present paper’s discussion
is developed in the light of Spivakian concepts of essentialism, specifically strategic essentialism since a
few researches with mentioned concept has been done on the Autumn of the Patriarch and Waiting for the
Barbarians. By concentrating on the concept, Gabriel Garcia shows Strategic Essentialism through
inferiors of the society and Coetzee tried to demonstrate the strategic essentialism and generally the
power of essentialism through character of Magistrate. The paper shows the oppression of the imperial
system and outcome of essentializing against oppressors. The major conclusion is that if inferiors of the
society unite with each other, find their true identity and stand against oppression, then they can get rid of
the oppression.