Stereotypes of Black Characters in South African Youth Fiction

Abstract This chapter explores the representations of Blackness in South African young adult (YA) literature. The chapter discusses the continued deployment of Black stereotypes in post-apartheid literature and identifies a number of common stereotypes to illustrate the argument that ideas about race have hardly changed despite the ending of the apartheid regime and its racist laws. The chapter also engages with race politics and racism (overt or otherwise), examining how the politics of race contribute to the continued dominance of White writers in the South African literary space and how this directly impacts the representations of Black characters. The chapter uses a wide selection of novels written both during and after apartheid to advance the assertion that an unchanging racial landscape is demonstrated by the literature. Additionally, the chapter problematizes the easy acceptance that a change in the political dispensation has resulted in a concomitant adjustment in race politics, racial attitudes and depictions thereof in literature.