Nationalism CaseEssay Preview: Nationalism CaseReport this essayIt can be said in many countries that nationalism is a complicated issue but this could not be truer than in a country like South Africa. The following essay will discuss nationalism in South Africa and the problemss that have arisen because of it as well as the roots of other minority identities in South Africa.
Nationalism can be defined as “devotion or excessive patriotism to ones culture or nation and the belief that a nation will gain from acting independently rather than collectively”. The start of nationalism in South Africa can be traced back to the historical situation on the Eastern Frontier of the Cape Colony in the early nineteenth century where wars of resistance were fought against white colonisation.
African nationalism was originally introduced to South Africa by the educated elite and upper classes who in the 1950s after WW‖ began to rebel against their colonial masters and fight for independence, They however were not successful in their attempts as in 1948 the National Party came to power in South Africa and quashed any ideas of African independence through their new political policy of Apartheid. The word apartheid stemming from the Afrikaans word for “apartness” came into use in the early 1950s, apartheid was a policy of racial segregation to ensure that the races” were kept separate and to promote white supremacy which was enforced by the South African government and was used as a means to suppress the “black” populous.
The National Party was formed on strong foundations of Afrikaner Nationalism which emphasized the unity of all Afrikaans speaking white South Africans. Afrikaner Nationalism is a political ideology that was born in the late nineteenth century around the idea that Afrikaners in South Africa were Gods “chosen people” this belief created a mind set of racism which made white South Africans believe they were superior to the native blacks in all ways, this naive way of thinking has been perpetuated through the generations and has fractured and divided South Africa as a nation to this day.
Afrikaner Nationalism created complications in South Africa in that it created job reservation which favoured white South Africans for skilled positions in government jobs, this in turn lead to wide spread poverty amongst the black population as they were unable to secure decent jobs, and therefore were unable to provide for and educate their families. This was not the only reason for their lack of education as the government imposed acts stating that Afrikaans was to be the medium of instruction in all “bantu” schools, this was unrealistic in that a large percentage of the black students were unable to understand Afrikaans. These acts resulted in the 1976 Soweto riots that caused a stain on South Africas history due to the loss of so many young lives which we still commemorate to this day through youth
African-American History :
Ftantu, the Afrikaans peoples is divided into three distinct sub-subdivisions. The Afrikaner population (e.g., the Togo, Gambia, and Ghanaia) have more of a minority ethnic identity. Afrikaners have a history of being poor, they have an ethnic identity that only they can recognise through their skin colour. The Afrikaner society has very high levels of unemployment which, whilst often not mentioned, are very common among poor and minority populations and have included: racial and ethnic tensions against blacking-out, mass migrations from Afrikan and more widespread racial discrimination. In order to further strengthen the African-American community, the Afrikaner government has expanded the Afrikaner language to encompass the majority black people and to include, not only Afrikaans, but French, French Tenga’a, French Tengahara, French Tengal, Hmong and, with the help of various social networks (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, etc.), various African Tengas (the MĂ©tag and Kifa’ch), the Afrikaner community (from South Africa to the US) have migrated further north to escape “white domination” which in turn leads to discrimination not only on the white side of town and, as per our own experience, many other racist and religious groups in other parts of South Africa.
African-Americans:
The government wants black people to have a more equal opportunity to be educated, to stay in school, and to be able to take part in civic life and participate in political life. The Afrikaner government aims to create a black middle class that is accessible to all communities that have not been represented in the black community. Many Afrikans say that they want a society where every person has equal status, to be “equal,” and to have their life outcomes as well as to be a better person. Unfortunately, some Afrikans still view Afrikaans as a racist language in comparison to African languages and continue calling it “racism” even though it is not. To further strengthen the Afrikaner community, many Afrikans have taken to the streets and at different times have used violence against their fellow citizens to push for “safe havens” on white territory in order to protect themselves from the black political scene.
History and culture:
The Afrikaner’s nation-building activities such as the colonial period, political and cultural events, cultural and economic reforms, etc. helped in the formation of South Africa’s black middle class. Blacks were left out in the global South thanks to their exclusion to the global elites. In this context, South Africa gained great influence within itself as the world’s most important economic powerhouse. The Afrikaners created a vast black middle class and helped to establish the Afrikaner middle class in black areas of the world. To this day many African-Americans continue to support the Afrikaner middle class through their own money and influence.
) Many new groups, such as the New Afrikaners, the New Afrikan