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Nationalism or ‘Tribalism’: The Evolution of Cape Afrikaner Ethnic Consciousness in the Late Nineteenth Century
Author(s) -
Tamarkin Mottie
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1354-5078.1995.00221.x
Subject(s) - tribalism , nationalism , colonialism , cape , diaspora , culturalism , ethnic group , state (computer science) , consciousness , gender studies , politics , white (mutation) , sociology , ethnology , history , anthropology , political science , law , archaeology , psychology , biochemistry , chemistry , algorithm , neuroscience , computer science , gene
. This article seeks to explore the evolution of the ethnic consciousness of the Afrikaners in the Cape Colony at an initial and crucial stage. The colonial Cape Afrikaners are treated as a core community, distinguished from Afrikaner communities in other states in South Africa. It is argued that their collective consciousness was shaped primarily by their core colonial experience rather than by their ethnocultural commonality with the other diaspora Afrikaner communities. Having been socialised into the British colonial state, they have evolved a collective consciousness premised on neither ethnic self‐determination nor ethnic exclusiveness. Correspondingly, their political outlook incorporated both British imperialism and Cape white multi‐culturalism. They were mobilised ethnically to secure their share in the spoils of the British colonial state rather than to attain ethno‐nationalist goals.