We had a wonderful evening at the California Shakespeare Theatre, an outdoor theatre which until recentlyonly performed Shakespeare but has now broadened its scope. We went with our friend Amina Mama who some of you may remember from her days at UCT where she established the African Gender Institute. She is now a professor in California and her daugher who will start studying medicine this year at UC Santa Clara and her colleague Maxine Craig a professor of scociology are pictured above at our picnic before the show. Maxine has written a book on the politics of black beauty.
We saw a show called Spunk - a muscial adaptation of three short stories by the anthropologist and author Zora Neale Hurston who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. We had not heard of her before and so I am currently reading one of her books.
The show was absolutely amazing and Amina introduced us to a real-life Black Panther who lives close to her. This woman really looked the part with a tall, almost regal bearing and long greying dreadlocks. I was completely overawed by her presence.
I realised that I need to improve my knowledge of African American literature, an area I have neglected in the past.
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