On life and literature in Cape Flats, South Africa

Abstract

This paper discusses selections from three texts all focusing on family relations and gang violence outside Cape Town, South Africa. The novels What Will People Say (Rehanna Rossouw, 2015), Innie Shadows (Olivia M. Coetzee, 2019) and the short story collection As Die Cape Flats Kon Praat (trans. If the Cape Flats Could Speak, Brian Fredericks, 2020) present realist narratives of families challenged by violence, transgenerational trauma and struggles for respectability in the living areas collectively known as the Cape Flats. These areas are synonymous with poverty and unrest, identifiers that simultaneously suggest urgent attention but also reductive stereotyping in the South African national imaginary. The selections here are examined for information they provide about the intersections between place, intimacy and violence through depictions of families negotiating gang rule and the legacies of structural inequality. These texts include the language of Afrikaaps, which is undergoing a re-evaluation in recent knowledge production, underscoring the relevance of newer output that sheds light on the social codes, cultural grammars, and moral economies of a hitherto underrepresented literary region.

Brief Biographical Note

Riaan Oppelt is a lecturer of English and Cultural Studies at Stellenbosch University. His research interests include South African literature, modernism/modernity and his more recent reading explores notions of authenticity, verification and identity in the digital age. He is currently writing about the language Afrikaaps for both its sociolinguistic relevance to South Africa as well as its emerging literature. He is a musician and a playwright.