‘If I speak English, does it make me less black anyway?’‘Race’ and English in South African desegregated schools

This article focuses on the role language plays in constructing youth identities that are in flux in desegregated suburban schools in South Africa. Interview and participant observation data were collected in three racially mixed schools in Johannesburg. My analysis of the data is set against a discussion of the problematic concept of race and of the historical classification of South African English according to ‘race’ as well as the position of English in South Africa at present. The article presents an analysis of the ways in which learners recognize and characterize the different kinds of English used around them, attaching prestige to varieties perceived as white. The tension between learners' valuing of what is perceived as white English and their labelling of black learners who ‘speak like a white person’ or who no longer speak African languages (either through lack of proficiency or choice) as ‘coconuts’ is explored. The article attempts to open up a debate on race and language use among youth in South Africa, and on race and varieties of English in particular.