Context Include Issues Surrounding Csem 100 Kings
THE NOVEL IS: waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee.
Description : You will write a seven to ten-page essay wrestling with the question of difference in community. You will accomplish this by an analysis of difference understood as barbarism and savagery in J.M. Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarians and your application of the ideas explored in the novel to American society today.
You essay will respond to the following question: What is one way that a powerful group in the contemporary United Statesidentifies a vulnerable group as barbaric as understood and described through the lens of Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians?
Procedure: Your essay will consist of five sections: an introduction with thesis statement; a section describing the theme of alterity/otherness as barbarism and savagery in Waiting for the Barbarians; a section analyzing how certain groups in the United States are similarly demonized by their being stereotypically identified as barbarians, savages, or otherwise violent and unfit for life in community; a section evaluating the identification of the group under consideration and constructing an ethical response to the “others” in question; a conclusion.
• Introduction: In one paragraph, introduce and summarize the issues you will explore and how you will go about the essay. Include a thesis statement that clearly states, in one sentence, what you are arguing in your paper and the conclusion you come to. By the end of the paragraph, I should know exactly what to expect as I read your essay, what you are arguing for, and the basic conclusion you reach.
• Section 1: Summary and Description – J. M. Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarians explores the way groups in power conceptualize outsiders to the community. Alterity or otherness is conceived of as barbarous and savage and this influences the way these others, who lack power in the wider society, are treated within a community. In this section, explain the way alterity/otherness is depicted as barbarous and savage and how this affects the treatment of those lacking power, giving some relevant examples from the novel to support your claim. You should take about two pages to accomplish this. Your goal is to show me you are able to read with comprehension and accurately summarize and describe what you’ve read.
• Section 2: Analysis – How does the barbarization of others manifest in contemporary society in ways that parallel the themes encountered in Waiting for the Barbarians? In other words, which groups are unjustly identified in overtly negative ways so as to delegitimize their position in a broader society or community? Furthermore, how does the identification of alterity as barbaric, savage, or otherwise negative impact the way they are treated by those with power? Obvious possibilities in our context include issues surrounding race and racism throughout American history, sexism and issues relating to gender and sexuality, and the contemporary immigration crisis. You should take about two to three pages to accomplish this. Your goal is to show me you are able to connect your reading with your own experience of the world and analyze how parallels exist between fictitious worlds and the actual experience of others. You should give concrete examples of how alterity is portrayed as barbaric, savage, or violent and how this has actually affected those lacking power in the community.
• Section 3: Evaluation and Construction – What do you believe is the ethical response needed to the problem you have explored so far? What is needed to create a healthy and moral community that refuses to demonize alterity and ensures the dignity of all those within a society and the possibility of human flourishing and fulfillment. Your goal here is to evaluate the ethics of the way others are identified and treated and to construct a series of concrete suggestions for creating a fundamentally more just society. You should take about two pages to accomplish this. Make sure you provide concrete ideas that could actually be put into practice in order to transform society.
• Conclusion: In one paragraph, simply conclude your essay through a summary of what you have argued for and what your paper has accomplished.
Evaluation and timeline: You will be evaluated based on: the presence of a clear thesis statement, grammar, style, clarity, your ability to summarize and evaluate the ideas of others (including your use of appropriate textual evidence), and the depth of your analysis, evaluation, and constructive ideas. I have provided a rubric below.
8–10 pages, double-spaced in 12pt. Times New Roman.
1- Paper: Draft of your Introduction with Thesis Statement and Outline – The thesis statement is the key item here. At this stage we will work to ensure a clear and robust thesis statement embedded in an introduction paragraph that is about half a page long. You should also have a sentence giving a brief outline of what to expect in the paper though at this stage this is subject to change since you will likely develop the idea significantly as you write the paper.
2- Paper: Annotated Bibliography – List at least five sources that you believe will be helpful in writing your paper. You do not have to have read these yet but have read the introductions and skimmed them and can tell they are worth pursuing. For each source, presented in proper Chicago/Turabian form, summarize its argument, why it might help your paper, and why it is a legitimate, meaningful scholarly source.
3- Paper: First Draft – This should be a solid draft that is fully complete. I will allow you to implement changes for the final draft. Treat this version like the final version you would submit to a class where you are not given a chance to revise the paper.