Quest for Identity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North

Abstract

This dissertation deals with the theme of identity crisis in two significant postcolonial literary works: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North. The theoretical framework of Homi Bhabha's concepts of hybridity, mimicry and ambivalence serves as a foundation for analysing the interplay between individual and cultural identity in both works. In examining colonialism and cultural identity, this study aims to shed light on the struggle of individuals to define themselves within postcolonial contexts. Also, it highlights the fluid nature of cultural identities in both colonial and postcolonial societies through an examination of the protagonists' identity crisis in both novels. The research further contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of colonialism on both the coloniser and the colonised.