British Cultural Diplomacy in South Africa, 1960–1994

Daniel J. Feather is a Senior Lecturer in History at Liverpool John Moores University, in the UK. He has published articles in leading international and diplomatic history journals and obtained multiple research grants from bodies such as the Royal Historical Society and British Academy. Daniel is a British Council Research Partner and is also on the editorial board of AM Digital’s Apartheid South Africa, 1981-1994 digitisation project.

This book analyses the British government’s use of cultural diplomacy in South Africa from 1960 to 1994. Previously, scholarship on UK-South African relations has focussed mainly on political, economic, or military links; this book makes an important and original intervention by emphasising how the British government sought to use cultural ties as part of its diplomacy in South Africa. The book also highlights the controversy these links generated owing to broader international efforts to ostracise South Africa owing to the racist apartheid system in the country at the time. By examining British policy towards educational exchanges, performing arts tours, radio and television broadcasts, and sporting contact, this book provides a dynamic case study from which to analyse Britain’s use of cultural diplomacy during a period of relative decline, while also adding a new layer to the well-established literature on the UK-South African special relationship.