diff --git a/rest_framework/renderers.py b/rest_framework/renderers.py
index d041dd4f5..50531b141 100644
--- a/rest_framework/renderers.py
+++ b/rest_framework/renderers.py
@@ -14,8 +14,10 @@ import json
 from django import forms
 from django.http.multipartparser import parse_header
 from django.template import RequestContext, loader, Template
-from django.utils.encoding import force_unicode
 from django.utils.xmlutils import SimplerXMLGenerator
+from rest_framework.compat import StringIO
+from rest_framework.compat import six
+from rest_framework.compat import smart_text
 from rest_framework.compat import yaml
 from rest_framework.exceptions import ConfigurationError
 from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
@@ -23,9 +25,6 @@ from rest_framework.request import clone_request
 from rest_framework.utils import encoders
 from rest_framework.utils.breadcrumbs import get_breadcrumbs
 from rest_framework import exceptions, parsers, status, VERSION
-from rest_framework.compat import StringIO
-from rest_framework.compat import six
-from rest_framework.compat import smart_text
 
 
 class BaseRenderer(object):
@@ -440,13 +439,13 @@ class BrowsableAPIRenderer(BaseRenderer):
         try:
             return view.get_name()
         except AttributeError:
-            return force_unicode(view.__class__.__name__)
+            return smart_text(view.__class__.__name__)
 
     def get_description(self, view):
         try:
             return view.get_description(html=True)
         except AttributeError:
-            return force_unicode(view.__doc__)
+            return smart_text(view.__doc__ or '')
 
     def render(self, data, accepted_media_type=None, renderer_context=None):
         """
diff --git a/rest_framework/views.py b/rest_framework/views.py
index a3a3ac254..69377bc09 100644
--- a/rest_framework/views.py
+++ b/rest_framework/views.py
@@ -4,12 +4,11 @@ Provides an APIView class that is used as the base of all class-based views.
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 from django.core.exceptions import PermissionDenied
 from django.http import Http404
-from django.utils.encoding import force_unicode
 from django.utils.html import escape
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt
 from rest_framework import status, exceptions
-from rest_framework.compat import View, apply_markdown
+from rest_framework.compat import View, apply_markdown, smart_text
 from rest_framework.response import Response
 from rest_framework.request import Request
 from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
@@ -97,7 +96,7 @@ class APIView(View):
         Override to customize.
         """
         # TODO: deprecate?
-        name = force_unicode(self.__class__.__name__)
+        name = self.__class__.__name__
         name = _remove_trailing_string(name, 'View')
         return _camelcase_to_spaces(name)
 
@@ -107,7 +106,7 @@ class APIView(View):
         Override to customize.
         """
         # TODO: deprecate?
-        description = force_unicode(self.__doc__) or u''
+        description = self.__doc__ or ''
         description = _remove_leading_indent(description)
         if html:
             return self.markup_description(description)