South Africa, Shakespeare, and Post-colonial CultureEdwin Mellen Press, 2005 - 301 pages This book works within the frameworks of post-colonial studies and cultural studies in order to theorise, and then to illustrate, the possibilities for cultural creation in the context of oppression. It re-works the concept of hybridity, and the philosophies of liberalism and humanism, in order to suggest that these important and much-contested terrains within critical theory have specific potential in a South African context. This book applies these theoretical points to a specific trajectory of writing in English in the region, which it finds embodied in the writing of Solomon Plaatje, Peter Abrahams, Es'kia Mphahlele, Bloke Modisane, and Can Themba. By seeking to unlock the complex and sometimes contradictory ways in which Shakespeare is useful to these writers, the book addresses the traditional imbalance of knowledges in Shakespeare Studies by conceptualizing the presence of Shakespeare in these texts as indicative of an act of cultural appropriation and political resistance. Ultimately, the book makes a contribution to post-colonial and cultural studies' engagements with how culture works, how resistance is inscribed, and what role theory can play in the neo-colonial world. |
From inside the book
Page 291
... Author's Pen and Actor's Voice : Playing and Writing in Shakespeare's Time . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . Welsh , David . 1998. Introduction . In R. W. Johnson & David Welsh ( Eds . ) : 1 21 . - White , Landeg & Tim Couzens ...
... Author's Pen and Actor's Voice : Playing and Writing in Shakespeare's Time . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . Welsh , David . 1998. Introduction . In R. W. Johnson & David Welsh ( Eds . ) : 1 21 . - White , Landeg & Tim Couzens ...
Contents
Shakespeare and the Essentially Human | 52 |
South African Shakespeare Tracing | 77 |
Drums Shakespeare | 152 |
Copyright | |
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Abrahams African Shakespeare allow apartheid attempt authority becomes calls chapter characterised claims colonial complex concerned construction context continue criticism cultural describe detail difference discourse discussion Drum economic effects English literature English studies equality European example exist experience explored expression freedom given humanism humanist hybridity identity implications important individual issues kind language liberal linguistic linked literary literature living located material means Modisane moral nature notion offer oppression Orkin particular Plaatje Plaatje's play points political position possible post-colonial practices present production question race radical reality relation relationship resistance response result says scholarship schools seen sense Shakespeare shared social society South African space speak specific struggle studies suggests teachers teaching texts Themba theoretical theory thought tradition transformation translation understanding universal Western women writing