Social Protest in Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Banzi is Dead (1972) and My Children! My Africa! (1989)
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Date
2015
Authors
GACEM, Mohamed
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou
Abstract
The present research paper deals with the issue of social protest in South African white
playwright Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Banzi is Dead (1972, written in collaboration with John Kani
and Winston Ntshona, and My Children! My Africa! (1989). Our major interest in this paper is
to show how these plays are used by Fugard as a tool to defend the oppressed Blacks and to
denounce one of the most oppressive systems in the world, namely Apartheid. The discussion is
achieved through two parts. The first part explored the issue of segregation in the light of
Brecht’s concept of “Realism”. In both plays, Fugrad portrays faithfully how black characters
are subjected to different types of discriminatory practices. The second part was concerned with
the issue of commitment by making reference to Brecht’s notion of “Alienation”, Bhabha’s
concepts of Mimicry, and Ashcroft’s et al. concept of “Appropriation and Abrogation”. Our
focus was on elements such as characters and language that prove Fugard’s political
commitment.
Description
67p.;30cm.(+cd)
Keywords
Citation
Drama