Under Construction @ Keele 2016 Volume 2 Issue 1 | Page 48

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superiority.’27 This recalls the postcolonial notion of the ‘primitive other’ which
degrades colonised subjects in Western discourses: for instance, in colonial
discourses the postcolonial subjects were described through animal imagery by
constructing derogatory identities.28 Foucault’s observation (made in the 1970s), of
the removal of the ‘ordinary racism’ of ’contempt’ is unsupported here, as evidenced
through Styles’ description.29 Yet, Fanon’s suggestion that the ‘major artery [of such
stereotyping] is fed from the heart of those various theories that have tried to prove
that the Negro is a stage in the slow evolution of monkey into man’ is, thus,
reinforced in the play.30
Colonial legacies exist through apartheid politics in postcolonial South Africa
as the oppressed are still under disparagement, as evidenced in Bradley’s reference
to the factory workers. Stoler posits that racism is not simply a biological science but
is materialised frequently on a daily basis, and the play supports this.31 Black
workers’ involvement in strikes in Harlem show their relatively more empowered
status compared to their counterparts in South Africa, as when employers institute
unfair practices by abusing workers and intimidating them, a strike may empower the
workers.32 Explicit here is South African black workers’ disempowerment at the
hands of white employers.
Ironically, Bradley advises Styles and his co-workers to display their
contentment by singing and dancing whilst working – by hiding their ‘true feelings.’33
Bradley’s intention is to influence Ford, who is part of the process of oppression. This
recalls Fanon’s assumption that white colonisers ‘mask’ racism.34 Styles is given a
new safety apron and fire-proof gloves in preparation for Ford’s visit, further
confirmation of Bradley’s hypocrisy and racism. Styles recalls with bitter humour how
he was an ‘Armstrong on the moon’ in his new clothing, satirising his phony elevation
from a monkey to an astronaut.35 This again alludes to Fanon’s observation about

27

Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, trans. Charles Lam Markmann. (London: Pluto
Press,2008), 174.
28
Ashcroft et.al, POST-COLONIAL STUDIES: The Key Concepts (London and New York: Routledge.
2007),79.
29
Foucault, 2003, 258.
30
Fanon, 2008, 8.
31
Stoler, 1995.
32
This is complicated by the role of trade unions in the anti-apartheid struggle.
33
Athol Fugard, 1999, 153-154.
34
Fanon, 1963, 163.
35
Ibid., 153.