De la Rey' and the Revival of 'Boer Heritage
Nostalgia in the Post-apartheid Afrikaner Culture Industry
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4604572 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kees Van Der Waal (0000-0001-9527-1513, Stellenbosch University), Steven Robin, Steven Robins (Stellenbosch University) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 763-779 |
| Publication date | 2011-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070.2011.617219 |
| OpenAlex | W2121758536 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
An Afrikaans popular song about a general of the Anglo-Boer War, ‘De la Rey’ was received with great enthusiasm among white Afrikaans-speakers in 2007, but also generated much controversy about the possible implications of re-ethnicisation among Afrikaners. What did this manifestation of popular culture say about the resilience of Afrikaner identity and the impact of the New South Africa? This article examines the ways in which this song entered into the post-apartheid public sphere, and investigates how De la Rey revivalism can be related to Afrikaners' experience of post-apartheid transformation. The ‘De la Rey song’ was created for a market that was ripe for a nostalgic celebration of a revamped but less party-political Afrikaans ethnic identity. The song soon became a rallying point for Afrikaners who perceived themselves to be under threat from the ANC government. The heroic figure of De la Rey was invoked as a saviour who would be able to lead the threatened Afrikaners symbolically to a safe place. The song tapped into the profoundly unsettled identity politics of many white Afrikaans-speakers whose continued commitment to a racially exclusivist identity was no longer politically acceptable. The song succeeded because it was a muted affirmation of white Afrikaner identity and helped to reassert the imagined boundaries of white Afrikanerdom while speaking the legitimate language of history and cultural heritage
Aesthetics · Art · Ethnology · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Diverse Musicological Studies · Gender Studies · History · Law · Music History and Culture · South African History and Culture
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Privileged Precariat
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South African Defence Force veterans’ modes of remembering and the ethics of post-apartheid nostalgia
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Anthropology and Whites in South Africa
Lionising De la Rey
Exploring the uptake of inclusive masculinity ideas in a group of South African, White, Afrikaans, heterosexual University student men
Spectres of Afrikanerdom in contemporary commodity culture
The disappointment of nostalgia
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Hysterical nostalgia in the postcolony
Make Afrikaners great again! National populism, democracy and the new white minority politics in post-apartheid South Africa
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| Unique citing works | 21 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2026 (15) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |