The Other from a Colonial and a Postcolonial Perspective : Comparing Othering in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Abdulrazak Gurnah's Paradise.

Sammanfattning

In this essay the use of othering in the novels Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah is compared. The comparative reading is carried out through the lens of a postcolonial framework comprising thoughts and ideas of, among others Edward Said and Ania Loomba. The analysis of this essay shows that while the othering in Heart of Darkness is based on an ideologically motivated conception of European superiority resulting in racism, the othering in Paradise is based on the status levels in the precolonial East Africa, where in the end economic wealth, culture and religion decided everyone’s position within the system.