Soweto's Theatre of Resistance, 1984-1994: Gibson Kente, Matsemela Manaka, and Maishe Maponya
  • Forthcoming April 2026/293 pages
  • Distributed for HSRC Press

Soweto's Theatre of Resistance, 1984-1994:

Gibson Kente, Matsemela Manaka, and Maishe Maponya

Andile Xaba
Paperback: $45.00
ISBN: 978-0-7969-2704-0
Three Soweto playwrights. Three distinctive theatrical styles. Each using plays to communicate messages of humanism, Black Consciousness, and Black solidarity.

Andile Xaba traces the history of community theater in Soweto, South Africa, during the turbulent years of 1984–1994. Showing how township theater became a popular avenue for political and cultural expression, he places the development of icons Gibson Kente, Matsemela Manaka, and Maishe Maponya into the sociopolitical context of the time.
Andile Xaba is senior lecturer in the Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature at the University of South Africa.