>>> from django.contrib.auth.models import AnonymousUser >>> from django.utils.encoding import smart_unicode,force_unicode >>> a = AnonymousUser() >>> # the same is for smart_unicode >>> force_unicode( a ) Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in File "C:\python251\lib\site-packages\django\utils\encoding.py", line 38, in force_unicode s = unicode(s) TypeError: coercing to Unicode: need string or buffer, __proxy__ found >>> force_unicode( a, strings_only=True ) Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in File "C:\python251\lib\site-packages\django\utils\encoding.py", line 38, in force_unicode s = unicode(s) TypeError: coercing to Unicode: need string or buffer, __proxy__ found