Sabinet | "O, Boereplaas, geboortegrond!" Afrikaner nostalgia and the romanticisation of the platteland in post-1994 South Africa
n South African Journal of Cultural History - "O, Boereplaas, geboortegrond!" Afrikaner nostalgia and the romanticisation of the platteland in post-1994 South Africa Navigate this Journal About Current issue Previous issues Submit a paper Contact the Editor OA African Journal Archive ISSN :
Afrikaners, Apartheid, Collective mentality, Groepsmentaliteit, Group mentality, Historical consciousness, Historiese bewussyn, Identiteit, Identity, Kollektiewe mentaliteit, Nostalgia, Nostalgie, Platteland, South Africa and Suid-Afrika
Abstract HTML Metrics Related Content Abstract "O, Boereplaas, geboortegrond!" Nostalgie en hunkering na die platteland onder Afrikaners in post-1994 Suid-Afrika
Sedert die demokratisering van Suid-Afrika (1994) blyk &apos;n gevoel van sentimentele smagting na die platteland toenemend onder Afrikaners voor te kom. Hierdie versugtinge stel die plattelandse lewe as heilsaam, eenvoudig en deugsaam voor, en dit blyk dat Afrikaners smag na die waardes en sekuriteit wat hulle met dié beeld van die platteland assossieer. Gevolglik beleef Suid-Afrika se plattelandse eiendomsmark tans ongekende groei namate hierdie romantiese voorstellinge stedelinge na die platteland lok. Agritoerisme en die bewustelike bemarking van plattelandse dorpies getuig ook van dié tendens. Hierdie artikel ondersoek verskillende uitinge van dié terugverlange binne die milieu van politieke, ekonomiese en kulturele transformasie waarbinne Afrikaners sedert 1994 tereg moet kom. Hierdie ontwikkelinge word beskou in terme van nostalgie as &apos;n spesifieke vorm van herinnering en word gevolglik in verband gebring met Afrikaners se kollektiewe mentaliteit. Teoretiese insigte aangaande die aard van nostalgie word op die verskynsel van Afrikaner-nostalgie toegepas deur verskillende kulturele tekste te ontleed. Eerder as om slegs die aard van Afrikaner-nostalgie te beskryf, word die kontekstuele funksie daarvan verken deur die prosesse wat die ontwikkeling daarvan onderskraag, te identifiseer en bloot te lê. Hier word nie beweer dat ander Suid-Afrikaners nie ook &apos;n spesifieke affiniteit vir die platteland openbaar nie, maar wel dat ander gemeenskappe se mentaliteit rakende die platteland kwalitatief van dié van Afrikaners verskil. Gevolglik is die fokus hier beperk tot die rol van die platteland in Afrikaner-mentaliteit. Sodoende word gepoog om insig te verkry in die historiese ervaringe en selfverstaan van dié unieke gemeenskap sedert die koms van demokrasie in Suid-Afrika.
In present-day South Africa, a sense of longing for life in the countryside (the platteland) increasingly seems to be resonating among Afrikaners. This sentimental yearning is predicated upon the re-imagining of life on the platteland as being wholesome, simple and virtuous, and it seems that Afrikaners are longing for the values and security that they associate with the platteland. This has resulted in an unprecedented rural property boom, the development of agri-tourism and the deliberate marketing of small towns as these romantic notions draw urbanites to the platteland. This article investigates different articulations of this nostalgic yearning within the context of the political, economic and cultural transformation with which Afrikaners have been trying to come to terms since the advent of democracy in 1994. These developments will be refracted through the prism of nostalgia as a particular kind of memory, and consequently connected to this group&apos;s collective mentality. Theoretical insights regarding the nature of nostalgia will be applied to the phenomenon of Afrikaner nostalgia by analysing a miscellany of cultural texts. Rather than merely describing the nature of Afrikaner nostalgia, this article therefore seeks to explore its contextual function by identifying and laying bare the processes that underlie its developments. This article does not suggest that other South Africans do not also have a special affinity for the platteland, but does propose that other communities&apos; mentality and experiences of the platteland are qualitatively different from Afrikaners&apos;. This article therefore restricts its focus to the role of the platteland in Afrikaner mentality. In so doing, it hopes to provide provocative insight into this group&apos;s historical experiences and self-conception since the advent of democracy in South Africa.