Black Celebrity Auto/Biography and the Mapping of Possibilities

Abstract

We are currently in the midst of a memoir boom characterised by an increase in the production and promotion of memoirs by public figures. For example, in 2023, Britney Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me sold 1,1 million copies in the first week of its release. A few months before that, Spare, a memoir by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, set a Guinness World Record for the fastest-selling non-fiction book (1.43 million copies on the first day). The proliferation of memoirs and/or autobiography has led to renewed interest in its study. Much of the theoretical work around life writing has predominantly taken place in the global north and my study seeks to make a contribution from an African context. Since 2000, an increasing number of black South African celebrities have released their autobiographies. My study is a critical narrative and discourse analysis of black celebrity life writing in post-apartheid South Africa, and it examines sixteen autobiographies produced by black celebrities in the first quarter of the twenty-first century (2000 – 2024). The study also explores issues of authorship and authority which arise during the process of collaborative writing. The findings reveal that local celebrity autobiographies offer possibilities for identity formation, self-reflection, public commentary and resource accumulation. They reveal that the contents of the texts are influenced by and reveal the circumstances, politics and intention of the subject. Amongst the subgenres identified in the focal texts are the conversion narrative, autobiographical manifesto, the legacy memoir, the trauma narrative and autopathography. The study demonstrates the development and democratisation of life writing in South Africa illustrating the agency, politics and location of black subjects. It reveals the opportunities auto/biography presents for reputation management, the augmentation of celebrity capital, shaping public discourse and the accommodation of multiple voices. With regards to collaborative writing, the study reveals that oftentimes, especially where there is an unequal power dynamic, the position of the subject in relation to the author/s has a discernible influence on the voices and perspectives which come through in the narrative.