From Laager to Lager: Reflections on Afrikaner Identity

Abstract

"South Africa is currently celebrating 10 years of democracy, and although many problems still need to be solved, South Africans can be justifiably proud of what has been achieved during the past decade. However, the dark years that went before the dawning of freedom should not be forgotten. And indeed: when one says that one comes from South Africa, people often respond with keywords and names such as “Nelson Mandela”, “Johannesburg”, “gold”, “Sun City”, “Kruger National Park”, “the Big Five”, “Cape Town”, ‘Table Mountain”, “Rooibos tea”, “wine”, “the country with the little country inside its borders [Lesotho]”, but sadly often also still “apartheid”. “Apartheid”, meaning separateness, is an Afrikaans word, and for many Afrikaners it is regrettable that this specific Afrikaans word has become known throughout the world."(...)