In anthropological studies place is often taken for granted, “just” the locale where other interesting, more significant things happen (De Jongh 2006:79). I argue that rather than a mere backdrop to activities, the landscape of Orania is significant and that physical place is essential for the construction of an Orania identity. I ethnographically examine whether the physical setting of Orania can be seen as a prime signifying system through which a particular other interesting, more significant things happen (De Jongh 2006:79). I argue that rather than a mere backdrop to activities, the landscape of Orania is significant and that physical place is essential for the construction of an Orania identity. I ethnographically examine whether the physical setting of Orania can be seen as a prime signifying system through which a particular Afrikaner ethnic identity, as well as a set of socio-cultural values is communicated. Occupying the physical land is a form of collective identity that helps create ethnic identities (Tilley 2006:11-13). Orania is an authentic place-bound expression of this quest for identity and Oranians define their identity through their model of space and of their land. The physical boundaries are expanded when support groups outside of the settlement become an integral part of the activities in the community, and socio-political boundaries are tested by an inand outflux of community members and the constant presence of South African and international press, and visitors. iv Landscape does not merely comprise the land, but also includes the lived experiences and attitudes of the inhabitants. Landscape as text, “a medium to be read for the ideas, practices and contexts constituting the culture which created it” (Ley 1985:419) proves to be a legitimate and constructive way to make sense of the landscape. As with texts, the landscape as text is subject to multiple readings. The focus on textual landscape offers an expanded perspective on space and place, and in this case texts also amplify the Oranian space exponentially. Different types of landscapes - culturescapes, landscape as text and textual landscapes - are building blocks in the construction of an Orania identity. Finally, I would emphasise that Orania, and by extension this study, is not just an academic concept, but a product of the lived experiences and opinions of people who are closely connected to land of their own.. / Anthropology & Archaeology / M.A. (Anthropology)

In anthropological studies place is often taken for granted, “just” the locale where other interesting, more significant things happen (De Jongh 2006:79). I argue that rather than a mere backdrop to activities, the landscape of Orania is significant and that physical place is essential for the construction of an Orania identity. I ethnographically examine whether the physical setting of Orania can be seen as a prime signifying system through which a particular other interesting, more significant things happen (De Jongh 2006:79). I argue that rather than a mere backdrop to activities, the landscape of Orania is significant and that physical place is essential for the construction of an Orania identity. I ethnographically examine whether the physical setting of Orania can be seen as a prime signifying system through which a particular Afrikaner ethnic identity, as well as a set of socio-cultural values is communicated. Occupying the physical land is a form of collective identity that helps create ethnic identities (Tilley 2006:11-13). Orania is an authentic place-bound expression of this quest for identity and Oranians define their identity through their model of space and of their land. The physical boundaries are expanded when support groups outside of the settlement become an integral part of the activities in the community, and socio-political boundaries are tested by an inand outflux of community members and the constant presence of South African and international press, and visitors. iv Landscape does not merely comprise the land, but also includes the lived experiences and attitudes of the inhabitants. Landscape as text, “a medium to be read for the ideas, practices and contexts constituting the culture which created it” (Ley 1985:419) proves to be a legitimate and constructive way to make sense of the landscape. As with texts, the landscape as text is subject to multiple readings. The focus on textual landscape offers an expanded perspective on space and place, and in this case texts also amplify the Oranian space exponentially. Different types of landscapes - culturescapes, landscape as text and textual landscapes - are building blocks in the construction of an Orania identity. Finally, I would emphasise that Orania, and by extension this study, is not just an academic concept, but a product of the lived experiences and opinions of people who are closely connected to land of their own.. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M.A. (Anthropology)

In 1991 a private town for Afrikaners was established on the bank of the Orange River, in the semi-desert of South Africa’s Northern Cape Province. As a deliberately Afrikaans, and thus white, community, the town’s aims and existence are controversial, but both its principles and practicalities are not unique. Endeavouring to build an Afrikaner homeland in multiracial South Africa seems incongruous, signalling a retreat from social heterogeneity as a fact of the contemporary world. It raises questions about what people do following a social, political and economic paradigm shift, and about what is occurring within a country with multiple and contradictory accounts of history and a traumatic recent past. It also means resisting the pressure to deal with the past, and therefore the present, in a certain way. Consequently, the frequent question of whether or not the town as an enterprise, or its residents, are racist, reveals instead a complex ordering of society. Life in Orania is filled with ordinary everyday activities of earning a living, raising and educating children, socialising, and practising religion in a town where Christian principles are explicit, each combining elements of intentionality and contingency. Once superficial similarity between residents can be taken for granted, the focus shifts to the differences between them, which rise and fall in importance, highlighting the circumstantial nature of group solidarity. This raises the question of what the differences within the community are, how deeply they reach, and where fundamental commonalities lie that prompt them to choose to build a future together. For the few hundred people involved in the enterprise, Orania is the only way they think they will have a recognisable future: they fear the demise of Afrikaners as an ethnic group through cultural assimilation or dispersal, emigration, and population decline. Their position of victimhood and vulnerability, shaped by the past, shapes their present actions in turn. Afrikaners’ interpretation of themselves as victims is easily supported by the popular historical narrative that Afrikaners have always struggled against outside authorities to be self-determining. This ethnographic study reveals that Orania is a concrete response to the fear that there may not be a place for Afrikaners in South Africa’s future, in the country to which they feel they belong and where their identity is rooted.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (MA (History))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Throughout the history of South Africa, the Afrikaners have been described as a "strange society". Calvinism was a key to their lifestyle and ideology and they saw themselves as God's special instruments. Their political philosophy of separate development was to a certain extent, revolutionary and was known as "apartheid". This was an attempt to remake a society according to a socio-political ideal which was rooted in the concept of safety in power. This thesis investigates the Afrikaners with regard to their primal ancestors, the origin of their identity, their identity during the reign of the NP government and their identity in the post apartheid South Africa. Discrepancies concerning Afrikaner identity during this time are also investigated. In this thesis special emphasis is placed on the right-wing actions of the Afrikaners, their political development from the time of separation from the NP which arose from the conviction that the leaders of this party were deviating from the moral and political prescriptions of their predecessors, their ideals and visions of freedom. The right-wing tends to qualify the term “nationalism” with the term “Christian” and they therefore believe that their nationhood is widely ordained. Culture, for the right-wing means an inclusive concept which covers every aspect of their lives. Language, i.e. Afrikaans, is seen as the verbal and written expression of their national culture. This study is directed towards the right wing of Afrikaners' quest for a "volkstaat" (state nation) and specifically the foundation of Orania in the Northern Cape and investigates whether it is a viable option for Afrikaners in general to live. The right-wingers believe that the only feasible constitutional option for peace in South Africa lies in partition The origin of the volkstaat idea , the early thoughts and the development of this concept are also investigated as well as the different models and role players. The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the success of Orania as a possible growing point of a "volkstaat" for Afrikaners. The early stages in the development of this small town e.g. the purchase, their efforts in achieving autonomy, their constitutional rights, their efforts in developing their community as well as their image to the outside world are investigated. During a visit to Orania in 2005 questionnaires were handed out to residents in order to compose a social profile and to investigate domicile statistics as well as views on Afrikaner identity. Ultimately this thesis indicates that although Orania functions successfully in most instances the possibility of it serving as a growing point of a “volkstaat” needs a much larger effort and larger support from other Afrikaners.

Submitted as requirement of the degree of Master of Arts History, Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand, January 2012 / Griqua Philippolis (1824-1862) and Afrikaner Orania (1990-present) are explored in this thesis, according to a legal-history framework that allows for a comparative appraisal of their foundations. As I argue, property – specifically, property in land – helps us to understand sovereignty and the question of rights in the South Africa. As this thesis explores, both settlements were formerly home to prior inhabitants (the San in Philippolis; Coloured squatters in Orania), and these inhabitants had to be transferred away. Both communities emerged out of contested and dynamic political contexts – situations that would determine how they saw themselves and others. Land regulations were devised within these respective contexts, in direct response to specific external pressures and the demands of the market. Internally, both polities were tightly governed. Externally, to various institutions and individuals, both argued for their ‘rights’ – mainly rights to land and to special treatment – all the time. Indeed, in a way, this study is an historical exploration of the effective deployment of ‘rights talk’, and to that end, my argument carries across two centuries right up to the present day using Orania and Philippolis to do this. This thesis, then, is a study about land rights, and the different regimes that create and erase them, that acknowledge and ignore them; it is a local history of settler colonialism past and present, using two case studies to explore the continuities of South Africa’s ever-pertinent land question. / XL2018