Afrikaner values in post-apartheid South Africa : an anthropological perspective
| dc.contributor.advisor | Erasmus, P. A. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Van der Merwe, Jan Petrus | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-01-06T12:09:31Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-01-06T12:09:31Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 2009-11-30 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011-07-27 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2009-11-30 | |
| dc.description.abstract | English: The aim of this study is to conduct an investigation from an anthropological perspective, on the impact that post-apartheid South Africa has had on the Afrikaner’s judgement of value, as well as on his identity-formation. Afrikaner values comprise therefore the central theme of three of the main articles, while narratives, myths, religion and identity represent the focus of incidence of the other two articles. Up to and including 1990, an official Afrikaner identity existed, which was largely determined by a grand narrative that was constructed around church membership, an association with political power and party membership, as well as membership of cultural organisations such as the Broederbond. After 1994, the loss of this official identity, has marginalised Afrikaners and plunged them into an existential crisis. In this regard, this study will point out two factors, namely that the Afrikaners’ emotional and intellectual ties with the Afrikaans culture, churches, politics and the Afrikaans language in the post-Apartheid dispensation are in a process of changing, even becoming attenuated; that Afrikaners are increasingly pursuing a new, cosmopolitan identity and way of life. Although commentators differ regarding the question as to what effect the post-apartheid dispensation had, and is still having on Afrikaners, it is undoubtedly true that the political and social transformations that South Africa has undergone since 1994 have indeed been far-reaching in nature and that these transformations largely took the great majority of Afrikaners by surprise. Afrikaners clearly were not prepared for the changes that ensued, with the result that after a period of fifteen years they are being confronted with the dire necessity to reflect on their values, their solidarity, their identity, as well as their role and place in the “new” South Africa. Recent anthropological information on the Afrikaner is limited – Afrikaans anthropologists have largely neglected the study of the changes that the culture and identity of Afrikaners have undergone since 1994. As a result, the contributions of Afrikaans-speaking anthropologists to the discourses surrounding current issues that affect the Afrikaner (religion, morality, identity, narratives and myths), and the characteristics of the so-called “new” Afrikaner, are relatively limited. In this regard the broad aim of the current study is to conduct a comprehensive ethnographic investigation into the current tendencies in Afrikaner culture and identity. Afrikaner values would thus be used as the point of departure from which the ethnographic material will be explored. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | Afrikaans: Die doel van hierdie studie is om, vanuit ‘n antropologiese perspektief, ondersoek in te stel na die impak wat die post-apartheid Suid-Afrika op die Afrikaner se waarde-oordeel en sy identiteitsvorming het. Afrikanerwaardes vorm daarom, in al vyf hierdie meegaande artikels, die sentrale tema. Daar het tot en met 1990 ‘n amptelike Afrikaner-identiteit bestaan, wat grootliks bepaal is deur ‘n meester narratief wat gekonstrueer is rondom kerklidmaatskap, verbintenis tot politieke mag en partylidmaatskap en lidmaatskap van kultuurorganisasies soos die Broederbond. Die verlies van hierdie amptelike identiteit ná 1994 het die Afrikaner gemarginaliseer en in ‘n bestaanskrisis gedompel. In hierdie verband word daar in hierdie studie daarop gewys dat die Afrikaners se emosionele en intellektuele bande met die Afrikaanse kultuur, kerke, politiek en die Afrikaanse taal in die post-apartheid besig is om te verander, selfs te verskraal en dat hulle toenemend ‘n nuwe, kosmopolitaanse identiteit en leefwyse nastreef. Ofskoon kommentators verskil, oor wat die invloed van die post-apartheidsbedeling op die Afrikaner was en nog steeds is, is dit ongetwyfeld so dat die staatkundige en sosiaal- maatskaplike transformasie wat Suid-Afrika sedert 1994 ondergaan het, inderdaad besonder omvangryk was en die oorgrote meerderheid Afrikaners tot ‘n groot mate onkant gevang het. Afrikaners was duidelik nie voorbereid op die veranderinge wat gevolg het nie, met die gevolg dat hulle nou, na ‘n tydperk van vyftien jaar, dringend gekonfronteer word om te besin oor hulle waardes, samehorigheid, identiteit, rol en plek in die “nuwe” Suid-Afrika. Resente antropologiese inligting oor die Afrikaner is beperk – Afrikaanse antropoloë het die bestudering van die verandering wat die Afrikaner se kultuur en identiteit sedert 1994 ondergaan het (en nog steeds besig is om te ondergaan), grootliks verwaarloos. Dit het meegebring dat Afrikaanssprekende antropoloë se bydrae tot diskoerse oor hedendaagse kwessies wat die Afrikaner raak (godsdiens, moraliteit, identiteit, narratiewe en mites asook hoe die sogenaamde “nuwe” Afrikaner lyk), relatief beperk is. Die breë doel met die onderhawige studie is dan om ‘n omvattende etnografiese ondersoek te loots na huidige tendense in Afrikanerkultuur en Afrikaneridentiteit. In dié verband is daar besluit om Afrikanerwaardes as die invalshoek te gebruik tot die ontsluiting van die etnografiese materiaal. | af |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/2012 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Thesis (Ph.D. (Anthropology))--University of the Free State, 2009 | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Afrikaners -- South Africa -- Ethnic identity | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Anthropology -- South Africa | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Ethnology -- South Africa | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Apartheid | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Post-modernism | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Values | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Morality | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Afrikaner | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Culture | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Identity | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Religion | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Narratives | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Myths | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | South Africa | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Globalizing | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Afrikaner values in post-apartheid South Africa : an anthropological perspective | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |