diff --git a/rest_framework/compat.py b/rest_framework/compat.py
index b69749feb..36f5653a0 100644
--- a/rest_framework/compat.py
+++ b/rest_framework/compat.py
@@ -584,3 +584,23 @@ if six.PY3:
 else:
     def is_non_str_iterable(obj):
         return hasattr(obj, '__iter__')
+
+
+try:
+    from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
+except ImportError:
+    def python_2_unicode_compatible(klass):
+        """
+        A decorator that defines __unicode__ and __str__ methods under Python 2.
+        Under Python 3 it does nothing.
+
+        To support Python 2 and 3 with a single code base, define a __str__ method
+        returning text and apply this decorator to the class.
+        """
+        if '__str__' not in klass.__dict__:
+            raise ValueError("@python_2_unicode_compatible cannot be applied "
+                             "to %s because it doesn't define __str__()." %
+                             klass.__name__)
+        klass.__unicode__ = klass.__str__
+        klass.__str__ = lambda self: self.__unicode__().encode('utf-8')
+        return klass
diff --git a/rest_framework/tests/test_genericrelations.py b/rest_framework/tests/test_genericrelations.py
index 95810de72..fa09c9e6c 100644
--- a/rest_framework/tests/test_genericrelations.py
+++ b/rest_framework/tests/test_genericrelations.py
@@ -4,25 +4,7 @@ from django.contrib.contenttypes.generic import GenericRelation, GenericForeignK
 from django.db import models
 from django.test import TestCase
 from rest_framework import serializers
-
-try:
-    from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
-except ImportError:
-    def python_2_unicode_compatible(klass):
-        """
-        A decorator that defines __unicode__ and __str__ methods under Python 2.
-        Under Python 3 it does nothing.
-
-        To support Python 2 and 3 with a single code base, define a __str__ method
-        returning text and apply this decorator to the class.
-        """
-        if '__str__' not in klass.__dict__:
-            raise ValueError("@python_2_unicode_compatible cannot be applied "
-                             "to %s because it doesn't define __str__()." %
-                             klass.__name__)
-        klass.__unicode__ = klass.__str__
-        klass.__str__ = lambda self: self.__unicode__().encode('utf-8')
-        return klass
+from rest_framework.compat import python_2_unicode_compatible
 
 
 @python_2_unicode_compatible