“It’s [Not] Like a Racist Thing”: Producing Controversial Racial Representations in Postapartheid South Africa

Abstract

The production and airing of Color TV (2011–2012), a variety comedy show, on the South African Broadcasting Corporation was seemingly driven by creator, producer, and industry desire for increased representation of “coloreds,” or people of mixed race, seventeen years after the end of apartheid. Although constitutional mandates and nation-building discourses support proportionate racial representations, the series was not renewed. Using critical race theory and a production studies approach, this analysis explores the apparently supportive context that engenders controversial racial representations by minority television personnel. Drawing on in-depth interviews with the creator of Color TV, and the show’s commissioning editor, the study explores how the political economic context of television production constrains racial representations to favor integrative nation-building programming and construct palatable racial representations of minorities.