Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane
Original publication date: 1986
This week is banned books week in the United States. All week I will be highlighting banned, challenged, and censored books I own and have read.
Publisher description:
Kaffir Boy does for apartheid-era South Africa what Richard Wright’s Black Boy did for the segregated American South. In stark prose, Mathabane describes his life growing up in a nonwhite ghetto outside Johannesburg–and how he escaped its horrors. Hard work and faith in education played key roles, and Mathabane eventually won a tennis scholarship to an American university. This is not, needless to say, an opportunity afforded to many of the poor blacks who make up most of South Africa’s population. And yet Mathabane reveals their troubled world on these pages in a way that only someone who has lived this life can.
Status: Challenged in the United States (citation: #33), Banned in South Africa from 1991-1993 (citation).
Reason for challenge in the U.S.: Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with racial politics and apartheid, since that’s what the entire book is basically about. Well, not on the face of the challenge anyway. The general objection has to do with scenes of the debasement of the black Africans by the dominant white culture in South Africa under apartheid leading to child prostitution and scenes of sodomy (citation).
My thoughts: It really bothers me when books are challenged because of their depictions of terrible things happening to real people. How are we to work to solve such problems if we don’t know about them? How can we avoid similar things happening in the future if we ignore what happened in the past? Reading “Kaffir Boy” for my South African history class really brought alive the horrors of apartheid for those who lived under it. My teacher was fantastic and assigned us “Kaffir Boy” along with “My Traitor’s Heart” by Rian Malan, a white South African telling his story from the same time as Mark Mathabane to give us a fuller, more complicated picture. “Kaffir Boy,” though, is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. Even the title is gripping and controversial. ‘Kaffir’ is a racial slur in South Africa (citation); it is almost as if Richard Wright had titled “Black Boy” “N*gg*r Boy” (no way I want people putting THAT search term in to find my blog!).
Your Turn: Have you read “Kaffir Boy”? What did you think? How do you feel about the banning of memoirs such as this? Why might it be important to read books like “Kaffir Boy”?
Check out my Banned Books Week Spotlights all week, every day at 2 pm Central through Saturday, Octobter 4th.
Rebecca of The Book Lady’s Blog is doing Banned Books Week Spotlights as well, every morning at 9 am. Check her out as well!
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
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I haven’t read this one yet…what a great spotlight! (TBR pile: +1, My Spare Time: -0).
i am a psychology major student, studing at the Dominica State College in the Commonwealth of Dominica. This book was given as an assignment and after reading it i was touched, disturbed,happy and angry all at once. This is a must read for all who thirst for stories about people who fight the good fight, who hang on to their dreams no matter what the circumstance, and who inspire others and show proof that faith, hard work and dedication can really move mountains. Myrespect,gratitude and deep appreciation goes out to Mark Mathebane
Kaffir Boy (the unedited version) is required reading for my 15 year old daughter who attends public high school in Sacramento, CA.(C.K. McClatchy High). When I would ask about the book she would say “It gives me nightmares.” I supported the topic and encouraged her to keep reading and taking notes (also required). Now, after having read it myself, I’m certain there should have been a disclaimer about the graphic sexual content outlined in the child prostitution section. 15 year olds shouldn’t be required to read that to understand the horrors of Apartheid. The unedited version is more suitable for an adult.
I personally think that most 15 year olds would be fine to read this book, I don’t think glossing over history does anybody any favors by the time a student is 15. However, I do support making parents away of potentially objectionable sections and allowing for alternative assignments (such as the edited version) for students for whom the book is not appropriate for one reason or another. As long as a parent is making the decision for their own child, and not forcing it on the class as a whole, I think that is just good parenting.