Shakespeare and the Coconuts—On Postapartheid South African Culture

The term "coconut" is one of several edible designations used to describe someone who, due to his or her behavior, identifications, or because they have been raised by whites, is "black" on the "outside" and "white" on the "inside." In this book Natasha Distiller explores historic and contemporary uses of Shakespeare in South African society which illustrate the complexities of colonial and post-colonial realities as they relate to iconic Englishness. "Shakespeare and the Coconuts" offers an alternative vision that reformulates simplistic racial binaries through an interrogation of the relationship between "Shakespeare" and a particular construction of what it means to be "South African" and "African." Beginning with Solomon Plaatjie, the author looks at the development of an elite group educated in English and able to use Shakespeare to formulate South African works and identities. Distiller then explores the South African Shakespearian tradition postapartheid. "Shakespeare and the Coconuts" engages with aspects of South Africa's complicated political and cultural worlds, and their intersections.

Natasha Distiller is a writer and academic. She was, until recently, Associate Professor of English and Chief Research Officer at the Institute for the Humanities in Africa (HUMA) at the University of Cape Town.