UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

A new laager for a “new” South Africa : Afrikaans film and the imagined boundaries of Afrikanerdom

Identification

Public canonical key

openalex:w2605565299

Authors

Adriaan S. Steyn

Reported year

2016

Reported language

en

Source type

book

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.732465+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:04:47.732465+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Documentary abstract — original language

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Afrikaans film industry came into existence in 1916, with the commercial release of De Voortrekkers (Shaw), and, after 1948, flourished under the guardianship of the National Party. South Africa’s democratic transition, however, seemed to announce the death of the Afrikaans film. In 1998, the industry entered a nine-year slump during which not a single Afrikaans film was released on the commercial circuit. Yet, in 2007, the industry was revived and has been expanding rapidly ever since. This study is an attempt to explain the Afrikaans film industry’s recent success and also to consider some of its consequences. To do this, I situate the Afrikaans film industry within a larger – and equally flourishing – Afrikaans culture industry. I argue that the Afrikaans language’s uncoupling from the state has shifted the preservation and promotion of the language into market-driven domains. I show that Afrikaans-language media and cultural commodities – like film – are mostly tailored to and consumed by white Afrikaans-speakers. And I ask: if a “distinct” Afrikaner identity was first forged within the cultural sphere, through cultural rituals and through the consumption of Afrikaans media forms, what kind of subjectivities are, in the present moment, being produced by the Afrikaans culture industry? Specifically, I consider the ways in which the Afrikaans culture industry is reifying social life, how it is reaffirming the imagined boundaries of Afrikanerdom, and how, through the consumption of its products, Afrikaners can imagine – or re-imagine – themselves as members of the same collectivity or laager.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W2605565299

HANDLE

10019.1/100026 · 1887/2718894 · 1887/78578

Documentary context

Documentary family

Book

Source-reported types

book

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

ZA

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Book bibliographic description

Access status unknown

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2 · Record 3 · Record 4 · Record 5

• Handle · https://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/100026
• Handle · https://hdl.handle.net/1887/2718894
• Handle · https://hdl.handle.net/1887/78578
• Document · https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/78578
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W2605565299

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.