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The Antjie/Andries Somers folklore character invites different decodings since it has many different inscriptions. These proposed inscriptions aids this research project to explore the historical value this folklore character exhibits when compared to changes in South African social and political climates since the abolishment of the slave laws in 1834 until the present. This symbiotic relationship between culture and character, as well as the continuous restructuring of the character, is explored in an attempt to understand the changing fears and anxieties projected onto the Antjie/Andries Somers persona. This cultural icon also underwent a continuous number of different interpretations and manifestations as experienced by the Afrikaans speaking community during the past centuries. The body with relation to gender is another pivotal point regarding the Antjie/Andries Somers folklore as well as the question concerning the physical change from male to female. This relates to the controversy surrounding a woman as an object of “evil” that is investigated through the different mythologies regarding the origin of sin using the biblical character of Eve. These explorations of “evil” as an inscription on women is further examined against the backdrop of the patriarchal society and some of the many dominant religious practices from that time. Despite a vast archive of information on the various embodiments of Antjie/Andries Somers, the character as well as the embodiments, is still shrouded in mystery and the research project aims to provide information about some of these manifestations.

This thesis investigates the creation of Afrikaner identity, more particularly the role of an individual in the shaping of public consciousness, in order to help comprehend how 'Afrikaner' identity was propagated. The focus is on Eugene Marais's career from 1890 to 1936, a period in which the Afrikaner language was standardised and changing socio-economic forces produced the conditions under which class and regional fragmentation yielded to pan-South African Afrikaner identity. This thesis does not retell the story of Marais's life. Neither does it give an overview of the rise of Afrikaner nationalism. Instead, it lies between these two poles. Marais represents two important foci of research: those who assisted in the self-conscious construction of Afhkanerdom and those who came to be seen as ware Afrikaners (true Afrikaners) and volkshelde (heroes of the people). This thesis tells a story woven from two contrapuntal narratives. The first speaks of an individual's life and work, the second, of a wider context of culture-brokers and the process of creating ethnic consciousness. The initial two chapters trace the workings of Afrikaner identity from the pre-South African War interaction between politics and those coming increasingly to define themselves as Afrikaners, to the interplay of ethnicity and language within the divided cultural elite. The discussion then turns to the use of popular science by this elite, in the making and propagation of an Afrikaner identity. The following two chapters consider the interaction of the Afrikaner with other groups, exploring cultural osmosis between ethnic communities and the image of another race in Afrikaans literature. Finally, the myth-making of the Afrikaner, particularly the creation of a volksheld, is considered, to examine the interplay of ethnicity, politics and memory.

Thèse. / Bibliogr. p. 443-490. Index.

Thesis--University of Stellenbosch. / Includes bibliographical references.

Diss.--University of Oxford. / Bibliogr. p. 208-226. Index.

Afrikaner Nationalism and the discourse of Apartheid have always formed a central part of Afrikaner identity. The fact that Afrikaner Nationalism has now been publicly discredited has had a destabilising effect on Afrikaner identity in post-Apartheid South Africa. This qualitative study explored the ways in which Afrikaners reinterpret their identity post-Apartheid. Fifteen adults, residents of middle-class Afrikaner suburbia in Bloemfontein, participated in in-depth interviews focusing on participants‟ dilemmas and struggles over their identity as Afrikaners, South Africans and Africans and the way in which these identities are being redefined in post-Apartheid South Africa. While participants condemn Apartheid, they are in fact „recycling‟ the discourse of Afrikaner Nationalism and Apartheid. The central argument which emerged from the data is one against acceptance of Africa and does not point to an adaptive re-negotiation of Afrikaner identity. Participants claim their entitlement to the category „African‟ but there are no indications that they are discursively redrawing the group boundaries, such that „Afrikaner‟ is part of a broader „African‟ identity. Participants appear to be constructing a version of Afrikaner identity which is more acceptable, by jettisoning certain public aspects of Afrikaner of identity as liabilities in post-Apartheid South Africa. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

Thesis (M.H.C.S.(Historical and Heritage Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references 246-255.