Thesis (MA (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study seeks to present a picture of the racial discourses circulating among white
Afrikaans-speaking youth in South Africa, with closer focus to students at the Stellenbosch
University (SU). Fifteen years into democracy, Afrikaans-speaking whites find themselves in
a position where their ‘Afrikaner’ identity does not enjoy the same government-supported
security as under apartheid. The responsibility is thus shifted onto white Afrikaans-speakers
themselves to negotiate and secure this identity in the light of new challenges brought on
by the post-apartheid context. In this regard, the white Afrikaans-speaking youth, in
particular, are faced with the ambivalence of being both exposed to a habitual scheme of
normalised racial divisions, as well as to a context where ‘old’ frameworks need to be
transcended in the name of survival in multi-racial South Africa.
SU, a historically white, predominantly Afrikaans-medium university, is currently faced with
the challenges of government-induced transformation and the attended ‘language debate’,
the aims of which are to make the university more accessible to non-white sectors of society
who, under apartheid, was excluded from this institution. Making use of interviews and
participant observation among students on the SU campus, an attempt was made to shed
light onto the types of discourses employed by white Afrikaans-speaking Stellenbosch
students to negotiate their position in this setting, as well as to determine to what extent
such discourses are racially based. With the help of a social anthropological approach to
discourse analysis, the discourses encountered during fieldwork were considered within the
context of macro-historical processes, and were conceptualised as complex sets of
meanings produced within the context of interaction, appropriated and employed by
individuals, strategically and artistically, in response to moment to moment situations.
It is argued that these discursive processes are immensely complex, as it is influenced and
shaped by a plethora of factors. These youth are, firstly, faced with a received framework in
which dualistic and racial distinctions are subconsciously reproduced. Secondly, they take
part in a rhetoric in which group boundaries manage to reproduce itself and, lastly, they are
exposed to a popular discourse, reinforced by the media, that strongly relies on race-based
sense-making. However, politically induced transformation ideals do call for a readjustment
of priorities within white ‘Afrikaner’ discourse and students have been observed to respond
to this in creative ways. Finally, it is argued that the heavy emotional baggage accompanying
the race topic, exacerbated by media emphasis and the ‘racist taboo’, can lead to denial and
indifference among white Afrikaans-speakers so that no space is created for constructive
engagement with the topic. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om ‘n voorstelling van ‘ras-diskoers’ daar te stel soos wat dit
onder die wit Afrikaanssprekende jeug in Suid-Afrika voorkom, met spesifieke verwysing na
studente van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch (US). Tydens die skryf van hierdie tesis is dit
reeds vyftien jaar in die ‘nuwe Suid-Afrika’. Waar Afrikaanssprekende blankes se ‘Afrikaner’
identiteit destyds deur die apartheidsregering beskerm en bevorder is, berus die
verantwoordelikheid tans op hierdie groep self om hul identieitsbelange te beskerm en te
onderhandel in die lig van nuwe uitdagings. In hierdie opsig is die fokus veral op die jeug
aangesien die raamwerke wat dikwels tuis aan hul oorgedra is, nou moet plek maak vir ‘n
nuwe manier van dink wat aanpas by blootstelling aan veelrassigheid op alle gebiede in
Suid-Afrika, in hierdie geval op die universiteitskampus.
Die US, ‘n histories wit, hoofsaaklik Afrikaans-medium universiteit, word tans in die gesig
gestaar deur kwessies rondom ‘transformasie’ en die ‘taaldebat’, deurdat aan die regering
se vereistes voldoen moet word om die instelling meer toeganklik te maak vir ‘n sektor van
die samelewing wat onder apartheid toegang tot sulke universiteite geweier is. Met behulp
van onderhoude en deelnemende waarneming by die US is gepoog om vas te stel hoe wit
Afrikaanssprekende studente in hierdie konteks hul eie posisie verstaan en onderhandel, en
tot watter mate die diskoers waarmee hul sin maak van hul omgewing, ras-gebaseerd is. Die
studie maak gebruik van ‘n sosiaal-antropologiese benadering tot diskoers analise. In hierdie
opsig word diskoers beskou binne die konteks van makro-historiese prosesse, en word dit
verstaan as betekenis wat op komplekse wyse gegenereer word tydens interaksie,
betekenisse wat op hul beurt strategies en op kreatiewe wyses toegeëien en aangewend
word in reaksie op situasies.
Daar word aangedui hoedat die diskursiewe praktyke wat hierdie diskoers ondelê, uiters
kompleks is deurdat dit beïnvloed en gevorm word deur ‘n verkeidenheid van faktore.
Eerstens is daar ‘n oorgeërfde raamwerk waarin dualistiese raamwerke wat ras-onderskeid
reproduseer, onbewustelik seëvier. Tweedens is daar ‘n landwye kulturele retoriek wat die
idee van grense tusen groepe as onoorbrugbaar voorstel, en laastens word ‘n populêre
diskoers, wat sterk staatmaak op ‘n ras-gebaseerde verstaan van die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing, dikwels deur die media versterk. Ten spyte van bogenoemde, is daar egter ook
waargeneem hoedat studente grootliks bewus is van die polities-gemotiveerde
transformasiedoelwitte wat vereis dat die prioriteite vervat in wit Afrikaanssprekende
diskoers, daarby aanpas. Laastens word egter ook geredeneer dat die swaar emosionele
bagasie wat met die ras-onderwerp gepaard gaan, onder andere die groot taboe rondom
‘rassisme’, op die ou end onder wit Afrikaasnsprekende student lei tot apatie en ignorering
van die onderwerp, wat konstruktiewe bespreking daaroor kan belemmer.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/4243 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Barnard, Jana |
| Contributors | Van Der Waal, C.S, University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 94 p. |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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