REVIEW ARTICLE The Politics of Classics in South Africa: Identity, Race, Language, and Scholarship William J. Dominik Published online: 5 September 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Michael Lambert, The Classics and South African Identities, ser. Classical Diaspora (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2011), 160 pp. The Classics and South African Identities, the second volume in a new series on “Classical Diaspora,” is the result of Michael Lambert’ s reflection upon the politics of teaching Classics in South Africa as the result of events that occurred before and after apartheid. The principal objective is to present a critical response to the role of Classics and the classical tradition in South Africa by discussing the history of the discipline and examining its relevance from the Dutch arrival in the country to the present day. Lambert has had a selfless and distinguished 33-year career (1980-2012) as a lecturer and senior lecturer on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the renamed (in 1994) University of KwaZulu-Natal (formerly the University of Natal). Reading a book by a former colleague on the history and situation of Classics in South Africa necessarily invites this reviewer to reflect upon his own 10 years of experience teaching on the Durban campus of the same University (1991–2001). This book is both a history of the teaching of Classics in South Africa and a personal account of how the discipline has been linked to the politics of the country as a whole. Lambert’ s main focus is on how the development of Classics in South Africa has been shaped by Afrikaner nationalism, British imperialism, and the anti-apartheid movement. Lambert does not aim to provide a complete history of his subject; rather, he provides a largely bird’ s-eye account with a few close-up investigations of exemplary events and individuals. As other reviewers no doubt will do according to their backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences in South Africa, this reviewer will respond to some of Lambert’ s assertions about the role of Afrikaners, Anglophones, and black Africans in shaping the discipline and attempt to fill in some of the gaps in his treatment. Like the discussion of Lambert, my comments will be highly selective and personal. The Classics and South African Identities examines in consecutive chapters the role of Afrikaner, Anglophone, and black South African identities in shaping the discipline. Politics inevitably looms large in these chapters due to the national and Int class trad (2013) 20:101–112 DOI 10.1007/s12138-013-0328-5 W. J. Dominik (*) Department of Classics, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand e-mail: william.dominik@otago.ac.nz