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Afrikaners

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alanga]] 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[1]

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

National flag of Namibia.

There were 133,324 Afrikaners 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.[2]

Global presence

The British Empire.
The Netherlands.
File:Flag of the Commonwealth of Nations.svg
The Commonwealth.

A significant number of Afrikaners have migrated to countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, 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 to gain work experience. The favourable exchange rate with the South African Rand (ZAR) also increases the attractiveness of international experience.

Culture

Religion

Main article: 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.BRITTANY

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 article: 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. BRITTANY

Literature

Afrikaners have a long literary tradition, and have produced a number of notable novelists and poets, including Uys Krige and Elisabeth Eybers.BRITTANY

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 light popular Afrikaans music and some also enjoy a social dance event called a sokkie.BRITTANY

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.BRITTANY

"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.BRITTANY

Institutions

Cultural

The Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV) (Afrikaans Language and Culture Society) is responsible for promoting the Afrikaans language and culture. BRITTANY

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.[citation needed] BRITTANY

Classification

The term Afrikaner has different meanings according to the historical context, because the first reported usage of the term by a Dutch colonist in the 18th century to differentiate himself from Dutch citizens is clearly no longer applicable. BRITTANY

The classification of people into an Afrikaner ethnic group is also dependent on the historical period, [3] and quite problematic in a modern context. The complexities surrounding this is explored in section below titled Modern.

Historical

As described earlier in the article the term was first used by the early Dutch colonists at the beginning of the 18th century. Clearly they could not constitute a distinct new ethnic group at that time, because they were first generation immigrants culturally much closer to their original ethnic groups (Dutch and later French and German). Over time this group formed a cultural identity with a shared language (Afrikaans), religion and identity, distinct from yet still related to their respective ancestors as well as later British colonial powers.BRITTANY

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. BRITTANY
Boers
Due to the resultant divide both geographically and possibly ideologically as well as culturally between the Cape Dutch and the Trekboers and the later participants in the Great Trek (Voortrekkers), these groups grew further apart. This group comprises those who had established themselves in the eastern Cape frontier and the Republican Afrikanders who trekked inland during the Great Trek. BRITTANY

This distinction no longer as pronounced, because people freely move between all areas of the South Africa. Today only regional dialects differentiate Afrikaans people from different areas, much like any other country. These dialects are however regional and more numerous than merely "Cape Dutch" or "Boer".

Modern

Currently it is difficult to classify anyone as an Afrikaner[citation needed] – 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[citation needed], 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).[1] From these numbers it is clear that a combinations of factors have to be taken into account and these factors vary for each person as there no one-to-one relationship between language, race, religion and ethnicity.

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"). [4]

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." [5]

White nationalism

Main article: 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.BRITTANY

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.BRITTANY

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. [6] BRITTANY

See also

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References

  1. ^ a b Statistics South Africa Census 2001
  2. ^ International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (2001) Population project
  3. ^ Bullen, P: The Rise and Decline of Afrikaner Ethnicism in the Twentieth Century [1], 1990
  4. ^ Litnet, Onderhoud deur Gerrit Brand met Hermann Giliomee". [2]
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Basson J: Die Afrikaner - mondstuk van die nasionalistiese Afrikaner, Strydpers Bpk, [3]

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