Afrikaners

ETHNONYM: Trekkers

Orientation

The Afrikaners are descendants, to a great extent, of Dutch, German, and French Huguenot settlers, and, to a lesser extent, of English, Scottish, Irish, and other settlers of South Africa. The Dutch that was the language of the first White settlers, who arrived in 1652, evolved into Afrikaans, which retained much of the structure and grammar of the original Dutch. In 1986 there were 5,800,000 speakers of Afrikaans in South Africa, of which 3,000,000 were classified as "Whites" and 2,800,000 were classified as "Coloureds" (Grimes 1988). Afrikaners are members of an ethnic group who are predominantly White, speakers of Afrikaans, of Western European descent, politically aligned with the National party, belong to the Dutch Reformed church (NGK), and share a distinctive history with other Afrikaners. The extent to which members share all of these characteristics is variable, but it is widely believed, because of the central importance of language, that speaking Afrikaans is probably the most salient indicator of group membership. Furthermore, because loyalty has been a highly regarded value, political-party affiliation is another category that is frequently used to define the in-group and to challenge potential dissidents.

History and Cultural Relations

Besides language, one of the defining characteristics of Afrikaners is their history. Many of the earlier settlers moved away from Cape Town, in part because of their resistance to Dutch and British rule, but also because of their attraction to their new environment. Their relations with the indigenous populations were mixed. They had generally good relations with the Khoi-khoi (Hottentots) and the San, but there was a mutual distrust and fear between the "trekkers," as the inland settlers came to be called, and the Xhosa. Based on these experiences, as well as a strong Christian (Calvinist) faith, Afrikaners came to believe that the only possible relationship between Blacks and Whites was master to slave or enemy to enemy.

A pivotal event, or series of events, in Afrikaner history was the northeasterly migration of the trekkers, or Voortrekkers (the pioneers). Precipitated by a number of conditions, including the annexation of Cape Town by the British, unpopular British regulations, and the emancipation of slaves, this "Great Trek" began in 1835. The Voortrekkers founded the republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, establishing constitutions that disallowed racial equality in church or state. Along the way, the Voortrekkers defeated the powerful Zulu nation, after its leader, Dingane, killed Pieter Retief and his party while they were his guests. Their deaths were avenged on 16 December 1838 at the Battle of Blood River; the date is now celebrated as a national holiday.

Another important event in Afrikaner history was the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), which was precipitated by conflicts between British gold seekers and Afrikaner farmers. Although the British won this war, it had the effect of creating an Afrikaner nation by providing a reason for Afrikaners of the Cape Colony to unite with Afrikaners who lived inland. The British soon restored self-rule to the two republics and convened a convention to plan the Union of South Africa. There were no Black representatives at the convention, and only White voters were allowed to vote on the ratification of the new constitution of South Africa. The Commonwealth country that was created established a color bar that literally prohibited Blacks or Coloureds from participating as equal members in the society. Britain sanctioned this policy by approving the formation of the Union of South Africa in the British Parliament.

The founding of the National party in 1914 is an important event in Afrikaner history, because that party played a major role in the policy that became known as "apartheid." When General Hertzog, the founder of the party (although later rejected by it), was elected prime minister in 1924, a number of policies were initiated that divided the Afrikaans-speaking people from the English-speaking people, as well as from all other people in the country. Afrikaans superseded Dutch as one of the two official languages. The separation of children by color in the schools became more absolute, and Afrikaners began to predominate in many official organizations, such as the South African Police and the civil service. The most powerful of all Afrikaner bodies at this time was the secret Broederbond (League of Brothers), consisting of the elite, the thinkers, and the philosophers of Afrikanerdom. They planned and worked for radical changes in South African society, which they were able to accomplish when, for the first time, they were able to bring to power one of their own, in 1948. In that year the first candidate, Dr. Daniel François Malan, who had the overwhelming support of the National party, was elected prime minister. His government was dedicated to achieving sovereign independence and the preservation of Afrikanerdom and the White race through apartheid. He began what many believe was a total restructuring of South African society, including the political, social, educational, and cultural separation of races. He carried out this transformation through a series of acts, including the Mixed Marriages Act, which prohibited marriages between the races, the Immorality Act, which prohibited sexual relations between the races, the Group Areas Act, which defined where people of different races could live, and the Population Registration Act, which determined the racial category of every person in the country.

Religion

The first settlers of South Africa brought with them a fundamentalist form of Calvinism, which, in the frontier, remained unrefined. Events in African history have acquired a religious significance when the leaders of Afrikaner nationalism used them as evidence of a divine calling for the Afrikaner people. When neo-Calvinists suggested that God reveals himself in nature and in history, Afrikaner revisionists jumped to the conclusions that God must be recognized in all things, and that the will of God was apparent in all things. The existence and development of the Afrikaner people, therefore, is an act of God, and, because God created the nation, the nation must continue. A similar argument often heard in the past was that God had willed that there should be separate nations and races.

Many early Afrikaners identified with the Israelites of the Old Testament and saw a parallel between their history and that of the Jews. Like the Jews, they believed and fought for their right to nationhood and, perhaps to a large extent, believed that they were, like God's chosen people, forbidden to mix with others not of their blood.

The Dutch Reformed church, clearly the dominant one among Afrikaners, is distinct from other Protestant churches in that its theology is Calvinist in principle; more important, it supports political policies of the National party. By the time the Afrikaner government came to power in 1948, the NGK had lost contact with the original teachings of Calvin and, in so doing, conveniently provided the theological foundation for apartheid. The National party's policies led to the elevation of apartheid to a civil religion in which the secular notions of volk, culture, and politics became prominent features, and the NGK became a virtual puppet of the National party government, often providing scriptural support for apartheid.

The events that occurred in the late 1980s and in the 1990s, which were primarily of a political nature—the freeing of Nelson Mandela from prison, his election as president, and the dismantling of apartheid—will provide a challenge to the survival of the Afrikaners as an ethnic group in the years to come. Because Afrikaners are fiercely loyal and they have expressed their loyalty to the National party, which supported apartheid policies, how they will respond as a group to the dismantling of apartheid will perhaps be a key factor in their survival as an ethnic group. If they cling to a minority view and make that view a necessary part of their identity, as they have in the past, Afrikaners may dissolve into nothing more than a political party. If, on the other hand, they can remain an endogamous group while accepting antiapartheid or non-National party views, their survival as an ethnic group will be more likely.

Bibliography

Adam, Heribert, ed. ( 1983). South Africa: The Limits of Reform Politics. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Adam, Heribert, and Hermann Giliomee (1979). Ethnic Power Mobilized: Can South Africa Change? New Haven: Yale University Press.

February, Vernon (1991). The Afrikaners of South Africa. London: Kegan Paul International.

Giliomee, Hermann (1989). "Beginnings of Afrikaner Ethnic Consciousness, 1850-1915." In Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Grimes, Barbara E (1988). Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Harrison, David (1982). The White Tribe of Africa: South Africa in Perspective. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.

Kaplan, Irving, and Harold D. Nelson (1980). "Religious Life." In South Africa: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army.

Leach, Graham (1989). The Afrikaners: Their Last Great Trek. London: Macmillan.

Louw-Potgieter, Joha (1988). Afrikaner Dissidents: A Social Psychological Study of Identity and Dissent. Clevedon, Eng.: Multilingual Matters.

Munger, Edwin S., ed. (1979). The Afrikaners. Cape Town: Tafelberg.

Perry, John, and Cassandra Perry ( 1985). "Tinkering with Tradition: Apartheid and Change in South Africa." Canberra Anthropology 8(1-2): 4-31.

RONALD JOHNSON

Afrikaner A term originally used to describe a person born in South Africa rather than Europe, in the twentieth century it was used to denote a White person whose first language was Afrikaans. Afrikaners descended largely from the Boers (‘farmers’), mostly Dutch, but also French and Germans who immigrated before the advent of British rule in the Cape, 1806. While a minority assimilated, many retained their distinct culture, their Calvinist (Dutch Reformed) faith, and their language, which became more and more distinct from written Dutch. Afrikaner identity was emphasized by the emergence of Afrikaner nationalism. This was partly a response to the development of Afrikaans into a written language towards the end of the nineteenth century, partly to the British occupation of the Transvaal in 1879–85, and partly to the South African War (1899–1902), when the Afrikaner states (the Transvaal and the Orange Free State) were annexed by the British.

Afrikaner political identity was formed and expressed by the National Party (NP), as well as organizations such as the Broederbond. It was further strengthened by common approval of apartheid, which was partly inspired by a sense of religious destiny. Although Afrikaners could muster only a little more than 50 per cent of the White population, they managed to dominate South African politics and society after 1948 through a much clearer sense of unity and cultural identity than non-Afrikaners. This unity came under strain as pressures to change the apartheid system grew during the 1980s, leading to the formation, for instance, of the Conservative Party. Afrikaner culture and values were challenged even further by the end of apartheid. Following the establishment of a multi-racial democracy in 1994, Afrikaans became only one of eleven officially recognized South African cultures. The Afrikaner community was weakened further by emigration of some of its wealthiest members, as around 20,000 mostly Whites left the country in the year 2000 alone.

Afrikaner (or Boer) A member of the White Afrikaans-speaking population of South Africa. It is used particularly to refer to the descendants of the families which emigrated from the Netherlands, Germany, and France before 1806, that is, before Britain seized the Cape Colony. Most Afrikaners follow the Christian Calvinist tradition, which, through the belief that salvation is only possible for a predetermined group of people and cannot be gained by any other individual, even by leading a religious life, contributed to the concept of APARTHEID.

Afrikaner (Boer, farmer) Descendant of the predominantly Dutch settlers in South Africa. Afrikaners first settled around the Cape region in the 17th century. To avoid British control, the Afrikaners spread n and e from the Cape in the Great Trek and founded the independent South African Republic (Transvaal) and Orange Free State. Defeat in the South African Wars (1899–1902) led to the republics merging in the Union of South Africa (1910). See also Cape Province

Af·ri·ka·ner / ˌafriˈkänər/ • n. an Afrikaans-speaking person in South Africa, esp. one descended from the Dutch and Huguenot settlers of the 17th century. DERIVATIVES: Af·ri·ka·ner·dom / -dəm/ n.

Afrikaner (earlier also Afrikander) white native of S. Africa. XIX. — Afrikaans, earlier (Cape) Du. Afrikaander, f. Afrikaan (sb.) African + -der, pers. suff. after Hollander Dutchman.
So Afrikaans XX. var. of Afrikaansch.

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