The barbarian figure is historical, not a natural man outside time

Evidence

The barbarian as natural man? Yes and no. No, in the sense that he is always bound up with a history (and a preexisting history). The barbarian appears against a backdrop of history. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 5717

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the barbarian as a historical category in the eighteenth-century discourse, distinct from Rousseau’s natural man.
• XREF: Connects to the reading purpose on how the ‘Other’ is constructed — the barbarian as foil to civilized man, prefiguring Said’s Orientalist construct.