M.A. / During the 1930's industrial expansion which marked the rise of industrial trade unions also precipitated the process of urbanization and proletarianization of large numbers of rural Afrikaans-speaking migrants, resulting into acute poverty and unemployment. The Labour Party, dominating the established trade union movement during this period, drew its support from the craft unions in the Trades and Labour Council-structure which strongly opposed the new rural migrants clustering around the least skilled and lowest paid occupations in the rising industrial unions. At the same time foreign and communistic influences also prevailed in the existing trade unions. National-minded leaders who became increasingly concerned with the serious effects of proletarianization set out to smash the ideology of class which threatened national unity. Thus their endeavour to capture working class support for Afrikaner na- tionalism by means of organizing the Afrikaans-speaking workers in right wing inclined trade unions which they labelled 'Christian National'. As control over trade union funds also proved to be a valuable source of income, the mobilization of the Afrikaner worker provided both the means of developing Afrikaner capital and gaining political power. In October 1936 the Nasionale Raad van Trustees (NRT) was formed to provide the financial backing for Afrikaner trade unions and to act as liaison body with the Afrikaner nation. It's aim to break the power which the Labour Party had gained in South African politics led to the organization of Afrikaans speaking mine workers in the Trades and Labour Councils' largest non-craft affiliate, the Mine Workers Union (MWU). This resulted in the formation of the Afrikanerbond van Myn- werkers (ABM) as a alternative union to the MWU during November 1936.

This dissertation investigates five texts: Damon Galgut‟s The Imposter (2008), Anne Landsman‟s The Devil’s Chimney (1998), Eben Venter‟s My Beautiful Death (1998) and Trencherman (2008) and Zoë Wicomb‟s David’s Story (2000). In addition to being written in the post-apartheid era, these five texts are all set wholly or partially in the Karoo, a semi-desert landscape unique to South Africa. The Karoo is, however, more than just a common setting onto which their individual stories have been transposed. It is part of the literary imagination of each text. Within these texts are a number of fluid interactions between the consciousnesses and the landscapes they portray. Of course, to attempt to examine these interactions as occurring purely between landscape and consciousness would be foolhardy. As such, this project investigates these links by comparing the texts under investigation to the historical literary form of the plaasroman and by scrutinising them through the theoretical concept of hospitality, as outlined by Jacques Derrida. According to J.M. Coetzee term „plaasroman‟ refers to the type of early twentiethcentury Afrikaans novel which “concerned itself almost exclusively with the farm and platteland (rural society) and with the Afrikaner‟s painful transition from farmer to townsman” (1988: 63). This project investigates all five texts in relation to a number of the concerns common to the plaasroman, including the idea of the farm as a patriarchal idyll, its valorisation of near-mythical ancestral values and the pushing of black labour to the peripheries of narrative consciousness. These concerns, along with the fact that the plaasroman marks out the farm as a fenced off area surrounded by threatening forces, means that it is an ideal form to include in an investigation involving hospitality Derrida outlines hospitality, at its most basic level as “the right of a stranger not to be treated with hostility when he arrives on someone else‟s territory” (Derrida 2007: 246). This relationship, however, goes further than a simple binary. Both host and guest give and receive hospitality. From Derrida‟s meditations on the subject come two forms of hospitality: Conditional and unconditional. The primary distinction between these two kinds of hospitality is a distinction “between a form of subjectivity constituted through a hostile process of inclusion and exclusion and one that comes into being in the self‟s pre-reflective and traumatic exposure, without inhibition, to otherness” (Marais 2009: 275). Unconditional hospitality is the latter and morally preferable. In linking the two concepts, this dissertation illustrates the degrees to which each text, through subverting, or conforming to the conventions of the plaasroman, achieves instances of unconditional hospitality. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

M.A (Historical Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Triomf explores the distortion of the national Afrikaner identity as a result of apartheid. This dissertation aims to demonstrate how van Niekerk deconstructs the Afrikaner through myths, stories, symbols, intertextuality and Derridean deconstruction. The Benades represent the Afrikaner on three levels: the personal, the national and the primordial. Since the Benades are primordial, Van Niekerk is able to use the archetypes of Jung’s collective unconscious to deconstruct the archetypal mythological structures Afrikaner nationalists used to develop identity and unity. The archetypes deconstructed are Spirit, the Great Mother, Re-birth, the Trickster, the Physical Hearth and the Sacred Fire. Afrikaner myths deconstructed include the Great Trek, the family, the patriarch, the matriarch, the future of a white Afrikaner nation and the binding character of Afrikaans as white national language. Van Niekerk undermines the plaasroman of the 1920s and 1930s, as the Afrikaner’s national identity was constituted and deconstructed in literature. / English / M.A. (English)

Triomf explores the distortion of the national Afrikaner identity as a result of apartheid. This dissertation aims to demonstrate how van Niekerk deconstructs the Afrikaner through myths, stories, symbols, intertextuality and Derridean deconstruction. The Benades represent the Afrikaner on three levels: the personal, the national and the primordial. Since the Benades are primordial, Van Niekerk is able to use the archetypes of Jung’s collective unconscious to deconstruct the archetypal mythological structures Afrikaner nationalists used to develop identity and unity. The archetypes deconstructed are Spirit, the Great Mother, Re-birth, the Trickster, the Physical Hearth and the Sacred Fire. Afrikaner myths deconstructed include the Great Trek, the family, the patriarch, the matriarch, the future of a white Afrikaner nation and the binding character of Afrikaans as white national language. Van Niekerk undermines the plaasroman of the 1920s and 1930s, as the Afrikaner’s national identity was constituted and deconstructed in literature. / English / M.A. (English)

M.A. / During the latter part of the Eighties, a growing number of Afrikaans writers and musicians rebelled against the monolithic state of "Afrikaner-culture". The dissidents did not want to identify or be identified with the Apartheid government, and they tried alternative ways in which to live out their cultural heritage (Uys in Rathbone, 1989:25). This search for an "alternative" led to the coining of the term "Alternative Afrikaans Movement" (Altematiewe Afrikaanse Beweging) in the media. A part of the Afrikaner-culture had been appropriated by certain institutions that were seen as the "centre" (such as cultural, political and religious institutions). These institutions strove to create a monolithic culture of unity without taking into account that such "unity" may lead to stagnation of the cultural repertoire due to an abhorrence to change. Change is part of the dynamic processes of culture, and any change can be due to external and as internal factors. In the case of the Afrikaner-culture of the eighties external factors such as changes in the world politics, the fall of communism and economic sanctions, influenced the cultural centre. Internal change also played a pivotal role in the dramatic changes that Afrikaner culture underwent during the late eighties and the early nineties. The total control of the centre was rejected by entities such as the Alternative Afrikaans movement on the periphery of the culture. Theperi_phery challenged the centre with lyrics of Alternative Afrikaans Music as well as texts that were deemed "alternative" such as the novel Suidpunt-jazz by Andre Letoit. The centre _proposed an amalgamation of Afrikaner culture and Afrikaner power. The Alternative Afrikaans Movement can be likened to Degenaar's (1982:3) proposal of the morally-critical Afrikaner that wants to separate Afrikaner power and Afrikaner culture. In this study the basic premise is that culture cannot be seen as a static or isolated phenomenon. Vlasselaers (1997:14) describes the concept of culture as a poststructuralist discursive process between a multitude of networks. The complexity inherent to cultural construction has lead me to make use of systems theory in order to best accommodate the complexities. Many academics (such as Segers, Schmidt and Vlasselaers) have examined the phenomena of culture and cultural studies through literary studies "as it is inadequate to study literary texts in isolation from their contexts" (Schmidt, 1997:119). The systems theory operates as an instrument with which one may reconstruct a model of interacting items, i.e. a system. Themes voicing the rebellion of Alternative Afrikaans Movement can be discerned in the texts deemed "alternative". Thematic devices include the reappropriation of institutionalized cultural symbols such as the ox-wagon (ossewa), and the debunking of a canonized history. The Alternative Afrikaans Movement also took cognisance the socio-political milieu of the eighties into their texts in order to voice their dissatisfaction with the "official" silence maintained about the socio-political status quo. Ultimately, this investigation is a study of the workings of a "culture of difference" (Vlasselaers, 1996:17), honin_g an investigative instrument that can be applied to different cultural phenomena, including literature. This study sheds some light on the dynamics of Afrikaner-culture, and also on the invaluable role that diversity plays within a multicultural South African context.

Aspects of memory and identity with reference to the prose of Dana Snyman will be reflected in this research report. Concepts from memory studies, such as cultural and collective memory, collective identity as well as nostalgia and loss will serve as the matrix for a reading of his narratives. The reception of Weg, an Afrikaans outdoor magazine (and specifically the contri- butions by Snyman) amongst readers typified as the Weg-generation will be studied. Since the political transformation of 1994, there has been a renewed attempt by Afri- kaners to explore their identity and status in the new dispensation. Snyman’s nostalgic representation of this process can be linked to a current trend in Afrikaans literature where identity and roots are explored in order to redefine Self and Other. His stories document the Afrikaner culture of a bygone era with a view of coming to terms with that past. / Afrikaans / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans))

Aspects of memory and identity with reference to the prose of Dana Snyman will be reflected in this research report. Concepts from memory studies, such as cultural and collective memory, collective identity as well as nostalgia and loss will serve as the matrix for a reading of his narratives. The reception of Weg, an Afrikaans outdoor magazine (and specifically the contri- butions by Snyman) amongst readers typified as the Weg-generation will be studied. Since the political transformation of 1994, there has been a renewed attempt by Afri- kaners to explore their identity and status in the new dispensation. Snyman’s nostalgic representation of this process can be linked to a current trend in Afrikaans literature where identity and roots are explored in order to redefine Self and Other. His stories document the Afrikaner culture of a bygone era with a view of coming to terms with that past. / Afrikaans / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans))

Die verhandeling ondersoek die wyse waarop Deon Opperman die versetmotief in sy Afrikanerdramas uitbeeld en vernuwe om die veranderende sosiale omgewing te weerspieël. Hoofstuk 1 verskaf ‘n oorsig oor verset as leefwyse en motief in die Afrikaanse drama. Hoofstuk 2 bied ‘n teoretiese ondersoek van The theatre of revolt (Brustein 1991), ’n bespreking van begrippe soos herskrywing, multikulturalisme, moderne diaspora en globalisasie sowel as ‘n kontekstuele studie van Deon Opperman se Afrikaanse oeuvre. Hoofstuk 3 (Donkerland) fokus op verset binne ‘n postkoloniale herskrywing van die Afrikanergeskiedenis. Hoofstuk 4 (Kruispad en Ons vir jou) sentreer rondom sosiale verset binne ‘n multikulturele omgewing, terwyl hoofstuk 5 Kaburu as weerkaatsende teks en die aktuele kwessie van die moderne diaspora as versetreaksie aanspreek. Die verhandeling kom tot die slotsom dat Opperman versetteater gebruik om kommentaar op aktuele probleme te lewer en om terselfdertyd‘n boodskap van transformasie oor te dra. / The dissertation examines how Deon Opperman portrays and regenerates the revolt motif in his Afrikaner dramas, in order to reflect the changing social environment. Chapter 1 provides an overview of revolt as lifestyle and as motif in Afrikaans drama. Chapter 2 offers a theoretical examination of The theatre of revolt (Brustein 1991), a discussion of concepts such as rewriting, multiculturalism, modern diaspora and globalization, as well as a contextual study of Deon Opperman’s Afrikaans oeuvre. Chapter 3 (Donkerland) focuses on revolt within the postcolonial rewriting of Afrikaner history. Chapter 4 (Kruispad and Ons vir jou) deals with social revolt within a multicultural milieu, whereas chapter 5 discusses Kaburu as a reflecting text and addresses the issue of the modern diaspora as a reaction to political transition. The dissertation reaches the conclusion that Opperman is using South African theatre as a platform for revolt as well as for transformation. / Afrikaans & theory of Literature / MA (Afrikaans en Algemene Literatuurwetenskap)

Die verhandeling ondersoek die wyse waarop Deon Opperman die versetmotief in sy Afrikanerdramas uitbeeld en vernuwe om die veranderende sosiale omgewing te weerspieël. Hoofstuk 1 verskaf ‘n oorsig oor verset as leefwyse en motief in die Afrikaanse drama. Hoofstuk 2 bied ‘n teoretiese ondersoek van The theatre of revolt (Brustein 1991), ’n bespreking van begrippe soos herskrywing, multikulturalisme, moderne diaspora en globalisasie sowel as ‘n kontekstuele studie van Deon Opperman se Afrikaanse oeuvre. Hoofstuk 3 (Donkerland) fokus op verset binne ‘n postkoloniale herskrywing van die Afrikanergeskiedenis. Hoofstuk 4 (Kruispad en Ons vir jou) sentreer rondom sosiale verset binne ‘n multikulturele omgewing, terwyl hoofstuk 5 Kaburu as weerkaatsende teks en die aktuele kwessie van die moderne diaspora as versetreaksie aanspreek. Die verhandeling kom tot die slotsom dat Opperman versetteater gebruik om kommentaar op aktuele probleme te lewer en om terselfdertyd‘n boodskap van transformasie oor te dra. / The dissertation examines how Deon Opperman portrays and regenerates the revolt motif in his Afrikaner dramas, in order to reflect the changing social environment. Chapter 1 provides an overview of revolt as lifestyle and as motif in Afrikaans drama. Chapter 2 offers a theoretical examination of The theatre of revolt (Brustein 1991), a discussion of concepts such as rewriting, multiculturalism, modern diaspora and globalization, as well as a contextual study of Deon Opperman’s Afrikaans oeuvre. Chapter 3 (Donkerland) focuses on revolt within the postcolonial rewriting of Afrikaner history. Chapter 4 (Kruispad and Ons vir jou) deals with social revolt within a multicultural milieu, whereas chapter 5 discusses Kaburu as a reflecting text and addresses the issue of the modern diaspora as a reaction to political transition. The dissertation reaches the conclusion that Opperman is using South African theatre as a platform for revolt as well as for transformation. / Afrikaans and theory of Literature / M. A. (Afrikaans en Algemene Literatuurwetenskap)