MONARCHS, MISSIONARIES & AFRICAN INTELLECTUALS, African theatre and the unmaking of colonial marginality

323pp., paperback, First SA Edition, Johannesburg, (2000) 2021

First published in the USA.

The development of black theatre in South Africa in the first half of the twentieth century, constructed around two case studies.

The first case study looks at Mariannhill Mission in Natal, where the evangelical and pedagogical drama pioneered by Rev Bernard Huss is considered alongside the work of the poet and scholar, B.W. Vilakaze, an alumni of the mission. The second focuses on the Bantu Dramatic society in Johannesburg and the drama of H.I.E. Dhlomo in relation to the British Drama League and other white liberal cultural activities. 

 "An Intellectual history of considerable subtlety and richness ... lucid and richly suggestive ... beautifully written" Professor Karin Barber, Centennial Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics 

Screenwriter and producer, literary critic and academic Bhekizizwe Peterson (1961-2021) was Professor of African Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand, and served twice as the Head of the Department of African Literature. He produced the feature films Fools and Zulu Love Letter and the feature documentaries Born into Struggle, Zwelidumile, The Battle for Johannesburg and Miners Shot Down. He was the recipient of a National Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences Book Award and a Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award.