Natal Afrikaner women and the South African War (1899-1902)

In this article, the variety of experiences of Natal Afrikaner women as British \nsubjects who were related by blood and culture to the Boers of the Republics of \nthe Transvaal and the Orange Free State, with which the British Empire was at \nwar with, are analysed. This is done in a blended, thematic, and chronological \nmanner. Drawing on primary and secondary sources, the encounters of Natal \nAfrikaner women with the Boer commandos, the British Army, the Natal \ncolonial authorities as well as other wartime encounters are scrutinised. For \nthe period of the South African War from 1899-1902, as per social history, \nthis paper attempts to give an authentic voice to Natal Afrikaner women in \nwhat is a gendered history. In so doing, the article contributes to the neglected \nhistoriography of the unique war experiences of Afrikaner women. More \nspecifically, the difficult relationships of Natal Afrikaner women with both the \ninvading Boer commandos and the British Army as well as the Natal colonial \nauthorities are laid bare. At the same time, economic and other hardships, \nremovals, imprisonment in concentration camps, and general physiological \nand physical hardships are investigated. The end result was an alienation of \nNatal Afrikaner women from the Natal authorities and a drift towards an \nemerging post-war Afrikaner Nationalism.

Ancient history · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · South African History and Culture