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Original Article | Literature | Volume 15 Issue 5, May 2026 | Pages: 512 - 518 | Ivory Coast
Colonial Violence as Trauma of Racial Denigration: A Post-Colonial Reading of Coetzee's Selected Novels
Abstract: This article examines representations of colonial violence and racial trauma in selected novels by J.M. Coetzee through postcolonial and trauma theory. Focusing on Waiting for the Barbarians, Boyhood, Youth and Disgrace, the study analyzes how racial hierarchies generate physical and psychological trauma and how these narratives expose colonial domination, dehumanization, and resistance. The article argues that Coetzee critiques racialized violence as a structure of imperial power while revealing its traumatic effects on identity and subjectivity. Colonial violence is perceived as a powerful weapon used by the colonizer to shape their supremacy over the colonized. The study contributes to debates on trauma, race, and postcolonial literary representation.
Keywords: J. M. Coetzee, postcolonial trauma, racial violence, Colonial discourse, Othering, South African Fiction
How to Cite?: Donafani Siaka KONE, "Colonial Violence as Trauma of Racial Denigration: A Post-Colonial Reading of Coetzee's Selected Novels", Volume 15 Issue 5, May 2026, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 512-518, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=MR26325222721, DOI: https://dx.dx.doi.org/10.21275/MR26325222721