'Afrikaners' are an
ethnic group of
Northwestern European ancestry and associated with Southern Africa and the
Afrikaans language.
History
Related ethno-linguistic groups
Origins of ethnic group
Afrikaners are descended from northwestern European
settlers who first arrived in the
Cape of Good Hope during the period of administration (1652–1795) by the
Dutch East India Company (''Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie'' or VOC). While the original settlers came mainly from
the Netherlands, their numbers were also swelled later by French and German religious refugees. Their ancestors were primarily
Dutch Calvinists and
Flemish, together with smaller numbers of
Germans,
French Huguenots,
Frisians and
Walloons. They lost their Dutch citizenship when the Prince of Orange acquiesced to British occupation and control of the Cape Colony in 1788.
The original intention by the Dutch who first settled at the Cape in 1652 was to establish a geographically limited refreshment station for the
Dutch East India Company. The arrival in 1688 of French
Huguenots who had escaped Catholic religious persecution added new blood and increased the settlers' numbers. Some of the colonists from other parts of Europe (e.g.
Scandinavia,
Portugal,
Spain, and
Scotland) were later also incorporated into what today comprises Afrikaners.
The first person on record as referring to himself as an "Afrikaner" was Hendrik Biebouw, who, in March 1707, stated that he was an Afrikaner and did not want to leave Africa. Biebouw meant by this claim to resist his expulsion from the Cape Colony, as ordered by the magistrate of
Stellenbosch.
[ Hermann Giliomee, ''The Afrikaners: Biography of a People'', University of Virginia Press, 2003 ] The term is intended to indicate a first loyalty to South Africa, rather than to a European country. In that regard its usage is similar to the term American when applied to a European descended U.S. citizen.
Some Afrikaners refer to themselves as '
Boers'. 'Boer' literally means 'farmer' in Dutch, but its precise meaning inside South Africa can be ambiguous, and tends to shift depending on the context and the way in which the word is said. Because agriculture is one of South Africa's most technologically advanced and profitable industries, to describe someone as a boer can indicate that he or she is an important member of the community. Before the former white government transferred power to the newly elected black majority government, Anti-apartheid activists within South Africa referred to the police force (who had to enforce apartheid legislation) as "Boere." A political slogan of that era urged "Kill the Boer, kill the farmer."
[1]
Migrations
This section considers the impact of various Afrikaner
migrations on the formation and contents of Afrikaner ethnicity. The impact of the experiences of colonial migrants from the Cape colony, like those from the Boer Republics after the Anglo-Boer wars, are traced. Seminal events such as the Battle of Blood River were interpreted as demonstrating divine support for Afrikaner identity in relation to indigenous peoples. During the Union era such events were reinterpreted in relation to British rule. Recent controversies about the "
Bok van Blerk song" shows how historical events still provide tools for a reconstruction of a post-Afrikaner identity free from the taints of the apartheid era. Post-apartheid migrations should be considered in terms of their implications for Afrikaner identity.
Great Trek
Main articles: Great Trek
The purpose of this section is to consider how the series of mass migrations from the Cape colony just before the middle of the 19th century contributed to the formation of Afrikaner identity. Interested readers can turn to the main articles on the
Great Trek and on the
Battle of Blood River for detailed discussions of the contributing factors and extended descriptions of the event.
The mass migrations collectively known as the Great Trek were pivotal for the construction of Afrikaner ethnic identity, as it led to the creation of a number of Boer states that were independent of British colonial oversight.
In the 1830s and 1840s an estimated 12,000
Voortrekkers migrated to the future
Northern Cape,
Natal and
Orange Free State provinces. A variety of factors motivated them, including the desire to escape British rule. The Trek split the white Afrikaans-speaking settlers into two groups: the
Trekboers (later called 'Voortrekkers') and the 'Cape Dutch', as they were called by British settlers. These distinctions also overlapped with economic differences, as the Trekkers generally had fewer material resources than those who remained behind.
Important as the Trek itself was to the formation of Afrikaner ethnicity, so were the running conflicts with various indigenous groups along the way. None are considered more central to the project of constituting Afrikaner identity than those against the Zulu in what today is Natal.
The Trekkers who entered Natal discovered that the land they wanted to settle fell under the authority of the Zulu chief
Dingane ka Senzangakhona. Large-scale hostilities erupted between Zulus and Trekkers after a land treaty delegation under
Piet Retief was massacred by
Dingane on February 6, 1838. After the execution, Zulu
impis (regiments) attacked Boer encampments in the
Drakensberg foothills at what was later called
Blaauwkrans and
Weenen, killing women and children along with men. By contrast, in earlier conflicts, the
Xhosa along the eastern Cape frontier had refrained from harming women and children. On December 16, 1838 a 470-strong force of
Andries Pretorius confronted about 10,000 Zulu at prepared positions.
[2] The Boers reputedly suffered 3 injuries without any fatalities. Due to the blood of 3,000 slain Zulus which stained the Ncome River red with blood, the conflict afterwards became known as the
Battle of Blood River. The Boers' guns offered them an obvious technological advantage over the Zulus' traditional weaponry of short stabbing spears, fighting sticks, and cattle-hide shields.
The Boers attributed their victory to a vow they made to God before the battle: if victorious, they and future generations would commemorate the day as a Sabbath. Thus 16 December was celebrated by Afrikaners as a public holiday, colloquially (and ironically) called "Dingane's Day". After 1952 the holiday was officially known as
Day of the Covenant, changed in 1980 to
Day of the Vow (Mackenzie 1999:69). The Battle of Blood River functioned to support the notion of divine favor for the Boer exodus. Simultaneously it could be appealed to as a sign of Boer superiority over indigenous populations. Dingane's actions were reinterpreted as proving the inherent treachery of the indigenes.
Boer republics
Main articles: Boer Republics
After the defeat of the Zulu forces and the recovery of the treaty between Dingane and Retief, the Voortrekkers proclaimed the
Natalia Republic. This Boer state was annexed by British forces in 1843.
Due to the return of British rule, emphasis moved from occupying lands in
Natal, east of the
Drakensberg mountains, to the north-west of them and onto the highveld (steppes) of the
Transvaal and Transorangia (Transoranje), which were lightly occupied due to the devastation of the
Mfecane. Some trekkers ventured far beyond the present day borders of
South Africa, north as far as present day Zambia and Angola, also reaching the Portuguese colony of
Delagoa Bay, modern-day
Lourenço Marques, capital of
Mozambique.
Most notable was the Dorsland Trek or "Thirst Land Trek" initiated by Gert Alberts in the 1870s when the first trek departed from Pretoria via the arid Kalahari Desert to Rietfontein on the eastern border of the present day Namibia. Over a period of five years and after a heart breaking odyssey of thirst and malaria these Trekkers arrived and settled on the fertile Humpata Highlands in southwestern Angola on invitation of the Portuguese colonial rulers of the day. Over the years many more Treks from Pretoria followed to Humpata. Reasons for the Thirst Land Trek were assumed by historians to be that the
British Empire came too close to their liking with the discovery of diamonds at Kimberley, the exact reason the Boers left the Cape Colony in the first place. Gert Alberts, the leader of the first Trek, however, once said that it was just a "Wanderlust" which spurred the first group to pack their wagons and to head for the unknown, in search of new horizons.
For more than 50 years these hardy Boers played a pivotal role in helping the
Portuguese to open up the hinterland of Angola for trade and hunting. Boer settlers from Humpata also helped the Portuguese to subdue warlike indigenous black tribes where necessary. However, relations between the Boers and the Portuguese slowly deteriorated as the Portuguese tried to convert these deeply Christian Protestants to Catholicism. The Portuguese also prohibited them from using their home language – Afrikaans – in the local schools. For a short period a splinter group of these Boers settled in the Otavi Highlands in Northern Trans Gariep - later known as German Southwest Africa, and today Namibia – and declared their own independant Republic of Upingtonia. This small independant state did not last for long as none of the big colonial powers wanted to acknowledge the small republic's sovereignty. In time most of these Boers eventually returned to Humpata.
During World War I German Southwest Africa fell into the hands of the Union of South Africa. South Africa was granted an unlimited "C" Mandate by the United Nations to Administer the country as a fifth province. In an effort to populate Southwest Africa as it was hence known, the South African Government invited the Angola Boers to resettle there. Most of the Angola Boers accepted the offer, while some returned to South Africa. A small group stayed behind in Angola. Today the offspring of the Thirst Land Trek and the Angola Boers form the backbone of all sectors of the Namibian economy.
The Boers created independent states in what is now South Africa: de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (the
South African Republic) and the
Orange Free State. The British also annexed these territories, which led to the two Boer Wars: The
First Boer War (1880-1881) and the
Second Boer War (1899–1902) – also called the South African War, which ended with the inclusion of the Boer areas in the British colonies. The Boers won the first war, retaining their independence, but lost the second, due mainly to the British's employing
scorched earth tactics and their extensive use of
concentration camps. An estimated 27,000 Boer civilians (mainly children under sixteen) died in the camps from
hunger and
disease. This was 15 percent of the Boer population of the republics. About 15,000
Bantu civilians died in separate concentration camps, also erected by the British forces, but owing to poor records this number may be much larger.
Following the British annexation of the Boer republics, the creation of the
Union of South Africa (1910) went some way towards blurring the division between the British settlers and the Afrikaners.
Boer War diaspora
After the second Anglo-Boer War, a Boer
diaspora occurred, following a smaller exodus in the 1890s to Mashonaland and Matabeleland (today
Zimbabwe), concentrated at the town of Enkeldoorn (Du Toit 1998:47). Starting in 1903 the largest group emigrated to the
Patagonia region of
Argentina. Another group emigrated to British-ruled Kenya, from where most returned to South Africa during the 1930s. A third group under the leadership of General
Ben Viljoen emigrated to Mexico and to New Mexico and Texas in the south-western USA. Others migrated to other parts of Africa, including German East Africa (present day Tanzania, mostly near Arusha) and even Angola (where smaller and larger groups settled on the Bihe and the Humpata plateaus, respectively; Du Toit 1998:45).
'British East Africa'
A relatively large group of Boers settled in 'Kenya' during the first decade of the 20th century. Brian du Toit indicates that the first wave of migrants comprised single families, followed by larger multiple family treks (Du Toit 1998:57). Some must have arrived in 1904 already, when a newspaper photograph identifies a tent town for "some of the early settlers from South Africa" on what today is the campus of the University of Nairobi.
[3] Probably the first to arrive was W.J. Van Breda (1903), followed by and John de Waal and Frans Arnoldi at Nakuru (1906). Arnoldi had visited Van Breda and his two brothers in 1905. Jannie De Beer's family already resided at Athi River, while Ignatius Gouws resided at Solai (Du Toit 1998:45,62).
The second wave of migrants is exemplified by
Jan Janse van Rensburg's trek. Janse van Rensburg left the Transvaal on an exploratory trip to British East Africa in 1906 from Lourenco Marques (then Mozambique). Janse van Rensburg was inspired by an earlier Boer migrant, Abraham Joubert, who had moved to Nairobi from Arusha in 1906, along with others. When Joubert visited the Transvaal that year, Janse van Rensburg met with him (Du Toit 1998:61). Sources disagree about whether Janse van Rensburg received guarantees for land from the Governor, Sir
James Hayes Sadler (Du Toit 1998:62).
On his return to the Transvaal, Janse van Rensburg recruited about 280 people (comprising either 47 or 60 families) to accompany him to British East Africa. Most came from districts around Ermelo and Carolina. On 9 July 1908 Janse van Rensburg's party sailed in the chartered boat SS Windhuk from Lourenco Marques to Mombasa, from where they boarded a train for Nairobi. The party travelled by five trains to Nakuru.
[4]
In 1911 the last of the large trek groups departed for Kenya, when some 60 families from the Orange Free State boarded the SS Skramstad in Durban under leadership of C.J. Cloete
[5]. But migration dwindled, partly due to stricter cash requirements imposed on migrants by the British secretary of state (then Lord Crewe). The granting of self-government to the former Boer republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State in 1906 and 1907, respectively, also contributed. Yet a trickle of individual trekker families continued to migrate into the 1950s (Du Toit 1998:63).
A combination of factors spurred Boer migration on. Some, like Janse van Rensburg and Cloete, had collaborated with the British, or had surrendered during the Boer War (Du Toit 1998:63). These ''joiners'' and ''hensoppers'' subsequently experienced hostility from other Boers. Many migrants were extremely poor and had subsisted on others' property.
[6] Collaborators tended to move to British East Africa, while those who had fought to the end (called ''
bittereinders'') initially preferred German East Africa (Du Toit 1998:45).
One of the best known Boer settlements in the British East Africa Protectorate was at
Eldoret, in the south west of what became known as Kenya in 1920. By 1934 some 700 Boers lived here, near the Uganda border
[7].
South West Africa
Main articles: South West Africa
With the onset of the
First World War, the
Union of South Africa was asked by the Allied forces to attack the German territory of South West Africa, resulting in the
South-West Africa Campaign. Armed forces under the leadership of General Louis Botha defeated the German forces, who were unable to put up much resistance to the overwhelming South African forces.
Many Afrikaners, who had little love or respect for Britain, objected to the use of the “
children from the concentration camps” to attack the Afrikaner-friendly Germans, resulting in the
Maritz Rebellion of 1914, which was quickly quelled by the government forces.
Some Afrikaners subsequently moved to South West Africa, which was administrated by South Africa, until its independence in 1990, after which the country was named
Namibia.
Afrikaner diaspora
Since the first all-inclusive democratic elections in 1994, many well-qualified Afrikaners have been emigrating from South Africa and Namibia to "
first world" countries. Most are settling in traditionally
English-speaking countries, such as the
United Kingdom,
Australia,
New Zealand, and
Canada, but many are also emigrating to
Dutch-speaking countries such as
the Netherlands and
Belgium.
The "''Vryheidsvlag''" (Freedom Flag) erstwhile called the Rebellevlag (Rebels Flag) believed to be used by some Cape Rebels during the second Anglo-Boer War.
[1]Volkstaat
Main articles: Volkstaat
A tiny group of Afrikaners has settled in the town of
Orania, with the ultimate goal of founding a
Volkstaat through a process of Afrikaner demographic consolidation. Some Afrikaners feel that their language and culture face a serious threat in post-
apartheid South Africa, due to the relatively small population of Afrikaners, the dominance of the
English language and their lack of political power. They also fear a repeat of the events in
Zimbabwe and many post-colonial one-party dictatorships, especially from the more 'radical' elements within the ruling
African National Congress.
Modern history
Apartheid era
Main articles: Apartheid
In
South Africa, the black majority was excluded from equal participation in the affairs of the State and country (except for the
homelands of
Qwaqwa,
Zululand,
Ciskei,
Transkei,
Venda, and
Bophuthatswana which were nominally self governed) until 1994. Apartheid laws were first enacted by the British controlled government when the Pass Laws were passed in 1923. The status quo was maintained and restrictions on non-whites' social and political freedoms further tightened when Afrikaner-led political parties gained control of government since 1948.
The
South African referendum, 1992 was held on
17 March 1992. In it, South Africans were asked to vote in the last
tricameral election held under the apartheid system, in which the
Coloured and
Indian population groups could also vote, to determine whether or not they supported the negotiated reforms begun by then
State President F.W. de Klerk two years earlier. The result of the election was a large victory for the "yes" side. Election analysts however reported that support to dismantle Apartheid among the Afrikaners was actually slightly higher than among
English speakers.
[ Countrystudies Toward Democracy]
This assertion is questionable given that statistical analysis published by the
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation(CSVR) has shown that Afrikaners supported apartheid policies to a greater extent than English-speakers from the 1970s to the 1990s. (
Between Acknowledgement and Ignorance:How white South Africans have dealt with the apartheid past)
Post-Apartheid era
In recent years there has been a tendency within South Africa to describe the mixed race ("
coloured") population of South Africa, most of whom speak Afrikaans as their first language, as Afrikaners or 'coloured Afrikaners'. However the Afrikaans-speakers of mixed race in South Africa and
Namibia usually refer to themselves as "
kleurlinge" ('coloureds') and
"bruinmense" ('brown people'). "
Basters" ('of mixed race', literally '
bastards') is a term that was formerly common but is now rarely encountered due to its pejorative nature. Other non-white Afrikaans-speaking groups are the "
Griqua", "
Namaqua", and "
Khoikhoi".
The switch from 'coloured' to 'Afrikaner' has seen some success despite the history of exclusion during the colonial and apartheid eras. However, many Afrikaans-speaking coloureds feel they have developed a separate identity from white Afrikaners due to the strict
racial segregation policies of the apartheid years, and there are marked colloquial differences between the languages as spoken by whites and Cape coloureds. Some Afrikaans-speaking coloureds also practise the Islamic religion, due to their
Malay roots.
Recently, some liberal Afrikaans-speaking South Africans and Namibians have rejected the label 'Afrikaner', because of its negative connotations of racial and religious intolerance. Some use the
neologism and racially neutral term "Afrikaanses" to refer to themselves as persons whose mother tongue is Afrikaans, disregarding the supposed – and hard to define – ethnic identity or apartheid-era racial categorisation.
While some conservative trekker and frontier descended Afrikaners still cherish the nametag "Boer", others view it as an obsolete and even pejorative term when used in an ethnic context.
Efforts are being made by a few Afrikaners to secure
minority rights even though protection of minority rights is fundamental to the new 1996 post-apartheid
Constitution of South Africa. These efforts include the
Volkstaat movement. In contrast, a handful of Afrikaners have joined the ruling
African National Congress party, which is overwhelmingly supported by South Africa's black majority. However, the vast majority of Afrikaners have joined white English-speakers in supporting South Africa's official opposition, the
Democratic Alliance, indicating their acceptance of non-racism within a free enterprise economy.
The new phenomenon of white poverty is often blamed on the government’s
Affirmative Action employment legislation, which reserves 80% of new jobs for blacks and favours black owned companies. Over 350,000 Afrikaners may be classified as poor, with some research claiming that up to 150,000 are struggling for survival.
[2][3]
Genocide Watch has theorised that farm attacks constitute early warning signs of genocide against Afrikaners and has criticised the South African government for its inaction on the issue, pointing out that the murder rate for them ("ethno-European farmers" in their report, which would also included non Afrikaner farmers of European ethnicity) is four times that of the general South African population.
[4]. There are 40,000 white farmers in South Africa. Since 1994 close to two thousand farmers have been murdered in tens of thousands
farm attacks in South Africa, many brutally tortured and/or raped. Some victims have been burned with smoothing irons or had boiling water poured down their throats.
[5]
Geography
Republic of South Africa
Although there is no indication of "ethnic group" or "ethnicity" in the South African census, a combination of race (
white) and first language (Afrikaans) is the closest available approximation of ''Afrikaner''.
There were 2,536,906 white Afrikaans first language speakers in
South Africa according to the 2001 census (1996: 2,558,956).
This population were spread across the provinces as follows according to the 2001 census:
★
Eastern Cape 148,809 (1996: 154,513), forming 2.31% of total provincial population
★
Free State 214,020 (1996: 279,135), forming 7.9% of the total provincial population
★
Gauteng 1,003,860 (1996: 958,351), forming 11.36% of the total provincial population
★
Kwazulu-Natal 116,307 (1996: 124,555), forming 1.22% of the total provincial population
★
Limpopo 110,028 (1996: 98,875), forming 2.08% of the total provincial population
★
Mpumalanga 170,526 (1996: 208,655), forming 5.46% of the total provincial population
★
Northern Cape 93,222 (1996: 101,704), forming 11.33% of the total provincial population
★
North West 218,611 (1996: 196,347), forming 5.95% of the total provincial population
★
Western Cape 461,522 (1996: 436,822), forming 10.42% of the total provincial population
[ Statistics South Africa Census 2001]
The fine spread of the population throughout the country was caused by the
Great Trek, which took advantage of the abundance of undeveloped land in the South African interior and a steady supply of non-Afrikaner labour. This counteracted any need for Afrikaners to stay in an area equitable with their total population.
Namibia
There were 133,324 speakers of Afrikaans in Namibia, forming 9.5% of the total national population, according to the 1991 census. Afrikaners are mostly found in
Windhoek and in the Southern provinces.
[6]
Global presence
A significant number of Afrikaners have migrated to countries such as
Canada, the
United Kingdom, the
United States,
the Netherlands,
Belgium,
Australia,
New Zealand,
Spain,
Argentina, and
Mexico.
A large number of young Afrikaners are taking advantage of
working holiday visas made available by the United Kingdom and other
Commonwealth countries, as well as
the Netherlands and
Belgium, to gain work experience. The favourable exchange rate with the South African Rand (
ZAR) also increases the attractiveness of international experience.
Culture
Religion
Main articles: Afrikaner Calvinism
Predominantly
Christian, the
Calvinism of Afrikaners in South Africa developed in a different way from its European and American counterparts. This uniqueness is generally regarded as a direct result of geographical isolation and political and cultural estrangement, which shut out the influences of the Enlightenment. The cross-currents of change which arose within the Protestant cultures of Europe in response to the eighteenth century
Enlightenment had minimal effect upon the development of religious thought among the Afrikaners.
This view of Afrikaner Calvinism implies that it is a purer expression of what Calvinism originally was, without the diluting effects of the Enlightenment. Particularly, this view implies that cultural development under the influence of Afrikaner
civil religion is an illustration of the cultural implications of Calvinism.
Language
Main articles: Afrikaans
The Afrikaans language changed over time from the Dutch spoken by the first white settlers at the Cape. From the late 17th century, the form of Dutch spoken at the Cape developed differences, mostly in morphology but also in pronunciation and accent and, to a lesser extent, in syntax and vocabulary, from that of the Netherlands, although the languages are still similar enough to be mutually intelligible (with some effort). Settlers who arrived speaking German and French soon shifted to using Dutch and later Afrikaans. The process of language change was influenced by the languages spoken by slaves,
Khoikhoi and people of mixed descent, as well as by Cape Malay, Zulu, English and Portuguese. While the Dutch of the Netherlands remained the official language, the new dialect, often known as Cape Dutch, African Dutch, "Kitchen Dutch", or "Taal" (meaning '''language''' in Afrikaans) developed into a separate language by the 19th century, with much work done by the
Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners and other writers such as
Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven. In 1925 this new language replaced standard Dutch as one of the two official languages of the
Union of South Africa. Today, Afrikaans is recognised as one of the eleven official languages of the new South Africa, and is widely accepted as an appropriate means of communication for a large number of South Africans.
Literature
Afrikaners have a long literary tradition, and have produced a number of notable
novelists and
poets, including
Uys Krige,
Elisabeth Eybers,
Breyten Breytenbach,
André Brink, and
Athol Fugard.
Arts
Music is probably the most popular artform among Afrikaners. While the traditional ''
Boeremusiek'' (Boer Music) and ''
Volkspele'' (literally, People Games) folk dancing enjoyed popularity in the past, most Afrikaners today favour a variety of international genres and light popular Afrikaans music. Some also enjoy a social dance event called a ''
sokkie''.
Sport
Rugby,
cricket and
golf are generally considered to be the most popular sports among Afrikaners. Rugby in particular is considered one of the central pillars of the Afrikaner community.
"Boere-sport" also played a very big role in the Afrikaner history. It consisted of a variety of sports like 'tug of war', three-legged races, jukskei, skilpadloop (tortoise walk) and other games.
Institutions
Cultural
The ''
Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuurvereniging'' (ATKV) (Afrikaans Language and Culture Society) is responsible for promoting the Afrikaans language and culture.
Political
The
Freedom Front is an Afrikaner ethnic political party in the Republican tradition, which lobbies for minority rights to be granted to all of the South African ethnic minorities. The Freedom Front is also leading the
Volkstaat initiative and is closely associated to the small town of
Orania. However, this party has only minority support among Afrikaners, with most supporting the
Democratic Alliance.
Classification
Differences of opinion about who qualifies as an Afrikaner arise from two opposing assumptions about the nature of ethnicity. A complicating factor is that ethnicity can be self-claimed, or can be ascribed by outsiders.
A first understanding of ethnicity is that it primarily describes relatively static inherent qualities that define exclusive groups based on common descent. Accordingly, individuals are born into distinct ethnic groups which share distinctive characteristics such as culture, religion, and language. From this perspective, you are born an Afrikaner; once an Afrikaner, always an Afrikaner. This perspective tends to be a-historical, in as far as it ignores the transmission of culture over time. Ethnicity is seen as a given.
A second assumption is that ethnicity comprises more fluid identity elements that create rather open-ended groups for particular purposes. Accordingly, ethnic groups form to meet particular needs, often to forge a superficial nationalistic unity out of rather disparate groups in order to gain material, social, or political advantages. From this viewpoint, ethnic groups exhibit great fluidity over time. Simply put, someone who is French can become an Afrikaner, for instance by learning the language and identifying with others who claim to be Afrikaners. In an extreme form, this argument leads to the conclusion that the commonalities within ethnic groups are largely imagined, and may in fact hide huge differences of dialect, religion, and historical experience. Proponents of this viewpoint may find it difficult to account for the stability of certain ethnic groups over time.
A commonly-understood--but seldom-mentioned--factor is that the definition of Afrikaner hinged on racial and linguistic components. While both were present from the start, the linguistic element received particular emphasis under British rule, and the racial element during apartheid. The project of forging an ethnic group arose among some non-British settlers who wanted to organize nationalistic opposition against the restrictive political oversight of first, their Dutch, and, later, their British rulers. Another purpose was to distinguish Afrikaans-speakers of European descent from indigenous groups (such as the Khoi) and slaves who may well have coined the language. Consequently, the meaning of "Afrikaner" was restricted to those who were both white and Afrikaans-speaking.
Changes in how "Afrikaner" is understood can clearly be traced through South African history in a way that incorporates elements of both static and fluid assumptions about ethnicity. During the 18th century the term was initially used by Dutch colonists to indicate their unique rootedness in Africa, even though they actually still spoke Dutch. The initial assumption of Dutch descent became irrelevant later when German and French settlers were incorporated into the 19th century definition. At this time the definition depended largely (but not completely) on uniting disparate settlers in opposition to British rule. The challenge was to forge an Afrikaner ethnic group from different economic classes and divergent levels of support for the British regime. What qualified one as belonging to an Afrikaner ethnic group varied somewhat according to historical period,
[Bullen, P: ''The Rise and Decline of Afrikaner Ethnicism in the Twentieth Century'' [8], 1990].
While it may seem that the definition of "Afrikaner" is currently more problematic than before, such complexities were already present in colonial periods, as discussed below. Some have argued that the exclusive, racial overtones inherent in "Afrikaner" should be abandoned in favor of the linguistically more inclusive term,
Afrikaanses.
Historical
The early Dutch colonists who claimed to be Afrikaners at the beginning of the 18th century did not constitute a distinct and new ethnic group. As first generation immigrants, they were culturally closer to their original ethnicities, (Dutch and later French and German). (Note that while the linguistic categories "Dutch", "French," and "German" are used as though they were homogeneous, they, too, comprised quite distinct dialects forged into unity through political and social projects, as indicated by the need to impose "Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands" in the Netherlands, for instance)
see Dutch language. From the first assumption about ethnicity described above, this group over time formed a shared identity with a common language (
Afrikaans), Protestant religious orientation, and cultural traits, distinct from--yet often borrowed from--their respective ancestors and British colonists. Yet while the early Afrikaners were largely Protestants, the Great Trek soon divided them into opposing religious factions. Economic differences existed which largely overlapped with regional variations between the western and eastern parts of the Cape colony, for instance.
;Cape Dutch
:The colonists at the Cape who remained when others began to trek inland during the 1690s and into the 1700s and were generally more affluent than those who trekked eastwards. The Cape Dutch tended to be loyal or indifferent to the colonial powers and as such did not take part in the
Great Trek.
;Boers
:Ideological and cultural divides emerged between the ''Cape Dutch,'' Trekboers who migrated northwest, and Voortrekkers who moved northeast in the Great Trek. The term "
Boer" (farmer) came to be applied to Afrikaners who settled along the eastern Cape frontier and the Republican Afrikanders who trekked inland during the Great Trek. While such distinctions are presently less pronounced, due to the free movement between all areas of the South Africa, regional
dialects among Afrikaans-speakers remain.
Modern
Currently it is difficult to classify anyone as an Afrikaner – whether as ethnic or cultural group – based solely on a combination of language and race, just as it is difficult to classify someone as
Anglo-African based solely on language (English) and race.
Even if a person is of obvious European descent and speaks Afrikaans as a first language, it is difficult to claim a genealogical link to the original Afrikaners of the Cape Colony due to intermarriage with other European settlers, especially the large number of British descent, but also newer European immigrants including Italians, Portuguese and Germans, among others. A simple example of this would be a quite common occurrence of someone of British descent marrying someone of Afrikaner descent and raising their children in a bilingual home. Would these children be considered
Anglo-African or Afrikaner?
The population of white or European Afrikaans first-language speakers are also far from homogenous with regard to religion, politics or cultural practices. The last census of 2001, reported a "white" population of 4.4 million, of which 2.5 million spoke Afrikaans as a first language and 1.4 million belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church (traditionally a church associated with Afrikaners, see
Afrikaner Calvinism).
[ From these numbers it is clear that a combination of factors have to be taken into account and these factors vary for each person as there is no one-to-one relationship between language, race, religion and ethnicity.]
In 2004, South African journalist, Jani Allan, appeared as the guest on The Jeff Rense Show to a listenship of 17million. During the interview, Allan discussed the threats to the Afrikaners well-being in South Africa, particularly noting the South African farm attacks as well as poverty among Afrikaners. She went on to encourage Americans to sponsor Afrikaners emigration to the US. Allan noted as the Afrikaners had roots in South Africa, dating back to 1650, they were trapped in South Africa. Unlike Anglo-Africans, Allan argued that emigration would be more difficult for Afrikaners.
Even Afrikaner historian Hermann Giliomee described the classification – perhaps casually – as: (Afrikaans) "enige iemand wat lief is vir die land en wat lief is vir Afrikaans" (English: "anyone who loves the land and who loves Afrikaans"). [ Litnet, Onderhoud deur Gerrit Brand met Hermann Giliomee". [9] ]
Another typical comment on the question of the supposed "Afrikaner" ethnic group from Harald Pakendorf an Afrikaans journalist: "To have a debate about Afrikaners seems almost absurd. Which Afrikaners? Who is an Afrikaner? Who will speak on their behalf? Hopefully, there will never be a debate about Afrikaners again. They are not separate enough from the rest of South Africa to be discussed as such." [7]
White nationalism
Main articles: White nationalism
Another context for the current (in democratic South Africa post 1994) efforts to establish a clear and distinct ethnic group called "Afrikaner", is that of a small conservative group seeking self determination in the form of an independent country or territory which they call a Volkstaat. In order to be counted as a valid instances of ethnic nationalism, these groups must establish the existence of an easily identifiable and homogeneous ethnic group, because such a territory derives its legitimacy from the fact that it is a homeland for such an ethnic group.
Instances of ethnic nationalism which include a "white" race qualification or component is referred to as white nationalism. Such white nationalist groups often rely on controversial fields of study such as race science, population genetics and eugenics.
It is to this political background of an attempt at self determination that many descriptions or definitions of "Afrikaner" must be viewed. One example is the official newspaper of the right wing political party, the Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP), with the Afrikaans ''Die Afrikaner'' (English: "The Afrikaner"). It declares its goal as the "unashamed promotion of afrikaner nationalism". The modern context of Afrikaner nationalism for the term "Afrikaner" is therefore unquestionable. [8]
See also
★ Afrikaner Calvinism
★ Afrikaner cattle
★ Anglo-Africans
★ Afrikaner-Jews
★ Huguenots in South Africa
★ Whites in South Africa
★ White people
★ White Africans
★ Boers
★ Cape Coloureds
★ Cape Dutch
★ Cape Malay
★ Culture of South Africa
★ List of notable Afrikaners
★ Orania
★ South African farm attacks
★ Trekboers
★ Volkstaat
★ Voortrekkers
References
1. Flags of the World
2. Simon Wood meets the people who lost most when Mandela won in South Africa
3. South Africa - Poor Whites
4. Over 1000 Boer Farmers In South Africa Have Been Murdered Since 1991
5.
6. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (2001) Population project
7. Mbeki, T. and Buthelezi, M. (1999), Report of the Government of the Republic of South Africa on the Question of the Afrikaners, Speech delivered at the National Assembly, South Africa, retrieved 25 June 2006
8. Basson J: ''Die Afrikaner - mondstuk van die nasionalistiese Afrikaner'', Strydpers Bpk, [10]
★ Du Toit, Brian M. 1998. ''The Boers in East Africa: Ethnicity and Identity.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood.
★ Gilliomee, Hermann. 1989. ''The Beginnings of Afrikaner Ethnic Consciousness, 1850–1915,'' in Leroy Vail (ed.) The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa. London/ Berkeley: Currey University of California Press, 1989. [11]
★ Mackenzie, S.P. 1997. ''Revolutionary Armies in the Modern Era: A Revisionist Approach.'' Routledge.
★ Van der Watt, Liese. 1997. 'Savagery and civilisation': race as a signifier of difference in Afrikaner nationalist art, ''De Arte'' 55. [12]
External links
★ South Africa - Poor Whites
★ South Africa: Poor whites are strangers in a new land
★ 2001 Digital Census Atlas
★ Afrikaner Nationalism Captures The State.
★ The Afrikaners of South Africa.
★ Afrique du Sud
★ mSN Encarta
★ Boer soldiers
★ British Policies and Afrikaner Discontent
★ The genetic heritage of one Afrikaner family
★ Afrikaans Wiki
★ ATKV - Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging
★ , by George Lacy (The North American Review / Volume 170, Issue 518, January 1900)
★ Between Acknowledgement and Ignorance:How white South Africans have dealt with the apartheid past
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