Coconut

"I started reading late. I grew up on a farm in KwaZulu-Natal, and I never had access to a library. Then, when I moved to Pretoria for my studies, I had access to libraries and started reading a lot of Pan-African writing. I read Nervous Conditions (1988) for the first time while I was there, as well as Purple Hibiscus (2003). Then, in 2007, when I was in my second or third year, Coconut by Kopano Matlwa came out. It spoke to the world of before and the world of now: of apartheid and post-apartheid, of the transition and being in the middle. The book is in two parts. You have the story of Ofilwe, who grows up in a middle-class family and goes to elite schools. She is questioning her identity: the fact that she doesn’t really understand her own African languages, the world around being in a Model C school. On the other side, you have Fix, who is growing up in a township. I relate to her a bit more. Her problem is that she has internalized racism. It all comes from the psychology of being in between, as a country. What exactly am I? In apartheid times, we were told that black was no good. And because of internalized racism, there’s also colorism. In the book, there is a scene when Ofilwe is at a party, and they’re playing a game (I think it’s spin the bottle). And one of the children says, ‘I cannot kiss her because she’s too dark.’ The book is powerful because it’s very simple, but there are so many things going on. The way you sound in society: how does your English sound? I was in the same boat when I came to Pretoria. I had come from a farm, and my mom is a domestic worker. I don’t really come from a privileged background. And then you read a book that reflects how other people see you. Coconut really packs a punch. Ofilwe is white on the inside and black on the outside. She’s in a world that is white, and she doesn’t know where she belongs. Fix is a black girl who wants to be in a more white environment, and therefore, she just hates her society. It’s just too ghetto for her. These two people are both in South Africa. It’s the same South Africa, but they’re experiencing it differently."