Gender politics have seen many forms, shapes and developments over the centuries and all over the world, but there are few studies focusing on the repercussions and relationship between nationalism and motherhood. Nationalist governments from Nazi Germany (1933 – 1945) to South Africa have fundamentally put emphasis on motherhood, since mothers bear the future generations of fighters, labourers and servants, i.e. the volk.

The rapid development of Afrikaner-nationalism and the development of the Afrikaner ‘imagined community’ can be votraced back to the 19th century, amongst the ashes of a deterred and demolished South Africa in the repercussions of the South African War. Cemented in the ideology of Calvinism, deliberately constructed principles of work and cultural ethic took hold, promoting set ideals surrounding nationalism and motherhood.

Due to the plight and suffering of Voortrekker women and children,⁽²⁾ who suffered at the hands of the British during the South African War and survived the horrors of the British concentration camp system, the Afrikaner notion of the Volksmoeder (translated as Mother of the Nation) was born. Afrikaners became disgruntled with the atrocious post-war living standards and were identified as poor-whites. This conceptualisation inevitably became “a clear role model for Afrikaner women, [becoming] part and parcel of the Afrikaner nationalist mythology.”⁽³⁾

This CAI paper examines the origins of the Volksmoeder, taking shape amongst the social and political environment of late 19th and early 20th century South Africa. Before the end of the 20th century these classifications would be buried under the surface, only to come to the fore again during the late 1980’s, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Communism, and the dismantlement of Apartheid in 1994.

The birth of the Volksmoeder

The exact origins of the Volksmoeder are complicated to trace, since it cannot be allocated solely to the South African context, or even more specifically to that of the Afrikaners. Elsabè Brink argues that the 19th century Victorian domestic ideology in Britain endured similar influences and correlations with the Afrikaner perceptions of maternity.⁽⁴⁾ This is validated in E.P. Thompson’s study on the origins of the British working class, wherein he states: “According to conventions which were deeply felt, the woman’s status turned upon her success as a housewife in the family economy, in domestic management and forethought, baking and brewing, cleanliness and child-care.”⁽⁵⁾

South Africa was faced with British colonial scrutiny during the 19th century, with its historiography and policy-making being written and compiled by the English for the English themselves. British historiography ensured that significant events, such as the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch, the Great Trek and the creation of the Boer Republics of President M.T. Steyn’s Orange Free-State and President Paul Kruger’s the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR), were pushed to the side-lines. The Boers living outside of the Cape Colony were described as ill-mannered, uneducated and malicious “living on the margin of civilisation, their moral condition scarcely higher than the Hottentots or slaves who were household companions.”⁽⁶⁾

With the commencement of the Mineral Revolution and the discovery of gold in the last quarter of the 19th century, great effort was made to put the Boers and Voortrekkers in a more positive light. This was done by portraying the Boer society as a unified volk, conquering all the elements, but the process was interrupted by the outbreak of the South African War of 1899 – 1902. The Boer women’s heroism, patriotism and undying loyalty to the Boer cause were to lay the foundation for the creation of the ideal image of the Afrikaner woman, the Volksmoeder.

As fate would have it, it would not be male politicians or cultural entrepreneurs, but a female British author, humanitarian and pacifist that would exalt the status and expose the suffering of Boer women. Emily Hobhouse documented the bravery and perseverance of the Boer women and children in a compilation of oral testimonies published in 1924. “The women maintained extraordinary composure and seldom lost mental control under this ordeal; a striking feature was their profound consciousness of the want of common-sense in those who initiated this movement against them.”⁽⁷⁾

Three years after South Africa officially became a Union, the Vrouemonument (Women’s Memorial) was revealed on 13 December 1913 in Bloemfontein, commemorating the 26,000 women and children who perished during the South African War.⁽⁸⁾ Steyn (the old president of the Orange Free-State) attended this ceremony with his wife Rachel, who was ironically hailed as the first hoogeagte en geëerde (highly esteemed and honoured) Volksmoeder.⁽⁹⁾

Nationalism and motherhood

Nationalist ideologies are traditionally known for creating and tailoring a distinctive set of roles for their subjects, most notably females, who are traditionally associated with esteem, status and respectability. The male architects of Afrikaner nationalism crafted an ideal role model in the form of the Volksmoeder, with dual emphasis on women as mothers, not only of their own families, but of all their people (volk).

Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias identify five significant ways in which women have been implicated by and in nationalism: 1) as biological reproducers of the members of national groups, 2) reproducers of the boundaries of national groups (via restrictions on sexual or marital relations), 3) as active transmitters and creators of the national culture, 4) as symbolic signifiers of national difference and finally, 5) as active participants in national struggles.⁽¹⁰⁾

Afrikaner nationalism was reliant not only on influential and prevailing constructions of racial difference, but also on gender differences. “Men were seen to embody the political and economic agency of the volk, while women were the (unpaid) keepers of tradition and the volk’s moral and spiritual mission.”⁽¹¹⁾ Marriage and motherhood became synonymous with women capitulating their independence, personality, preferences and talents.⁽¹²⁾ This gendered construction of Afrikaans women and their role in society, at the time, is nicely captured by the following quote: “No beard grows upon my cheeks, but in my heart I carry a sword, the battle sword for bread and honour, against the poverty which pains my mother heart.”⁽¹³⁾

The imagined community and Afrikaner motherhood

The deliberate construction of awareness, identity and nationalist symbols are referred to as the creation of the Afrikaner ‘imagined community’. Benedict Anderson describes the Afrikaner and its propagation of the volk as ‘imagined’ because the members are not all acquainted with each other; and as a ‘community’ because its members share the same image of their communication.⁽¹⁴⁾ That is, although not every Afrikaner knows every other Afrikaner they still possess a strong sense of belonging and identity, hence, an imagined community. Anderson continues to propose that the sense of nationhood that is shared by an ‘imagined community’ is made simple and possible through the use of media, laying the foundation for an emotional collectiveness. Contrary to this, Stella Viljoen argues that this is not a valid statement,

…since [the Afrikaners] alone do not constitute a political ‘nation’, but [Anderson’s] delineation thereof does serve to highlight the degree to which the Afrikaner identity hinges more on cultural consciousness and its dissemination in vernacular publications such as Die Huisgenoot, than geo-political location.⁽¹⁵⁾

Writers, journalists, academics, and public figures can shape policy and historiography, by “inviting the masses into history.”⁽¹⁶⁾ To convince people of the allure of nationalism, a hand or invitation needs to be extended to every single individual, who is accepted to have a certain level of literacy and education, towards the reading of simple, yet valuable nationalist literature. This is indeed what the magazine Die Huisgenoot did with its first publication in 1916. Up-and-coming or established writers were cultivated, Afrikaans songs were popularised, the Afrikaans language was purged of its lower-class connotations and the ideal of the Volksmoeder was celebrated.

In 1918, Willem Postma was approached by two Afrikaner organisations; the Nasionale Helpmekaar (National Lend a Hand Organisation) and the Kultuurvereniging van die Reddingsdaadbond (Cultural Society of the Bond of Heroism) to write a book entitled Die Boervrouw, Moeder van haar Volk (The Boer Woman, Mother of her Nation). The aim of the book was to orchestrate awareness of the plight of Afrikaner women in urban centres. The timing of Postma’s book was significant, as it followed the exposing of the Vrouemonument and the repercussions of the 1914 Rebellion,⁽¹⁷⁾ still fresh in the minds of many Afrikaners, and the end of the First World War.

In the 1920’s rapid population growth among the Afrikaners was recorded, coinciding with the increase of poverty in rural areas. Many unskilled Afrikaner men and women were forced to flock to the urban areas in search of new beginnings. Postma’s book found great significance in the minds of the reformers and cultural entrepreneurs of Afrikaner nationalism. Die Boervrouw, Moeder en haar Volk was a verbalisation of the already established tradition of the Volksmoeder and adoration of Afrikaner women. It was aimed mainly at the youth, most notably young girls, who were seen as the future role models of the Afrikaner volk. Themes such as religion, valour, a love for freedom, the spirit of sacrifice, self-reliance, huismoederlikheid (housewifeliness) and integrity dominate its pages.⁽¹⁸⁾

This was the first time that the Boer woman’s role as motherf the nation in correlation with the ideal of the imagined community was officially documented. Anne McClintock notes, however, that the icon of the Volksmoeder is paradoxical: “…on the one hand it recognises the power of (white) motherhood, but on the other hand, it is a retrospective iconography of gender containment, containing women’s mutinous power within an iconography of domestic service.”⁽¹⁹⁾

Postma continued to link the moral vigour of the Afrikaner people to that of its women: “A people are what its women are. The woman is the conscience of her nation as well as the measure of its values. The moral life of a nation is controlled by the women, and by the women we can measure the moral condition of the people.”⁽²⁰⁾

Enter the Volksmoeder: Organisations and fraternities of motherhood

In the aftermath of the South African War there was a dire need to structure the perception of poor-white Afrikaners as a tough, powerful and stable culture. This endeavour would take place during the first two decades of the 20th century with the creation of the Afrikaner Christelike Vroue Vereniging (Afrikaner Christian Women’s Movement) or ACVV, portraying nationalism with a philanthropic virtue as an undertone.

It would be through these procedures and organisations that white Dutch-Afrikaans women would find themselves in the domestic sphere. According to Marijke du Toit, the first generation of ACVV women were cautious to conserve the autonomy of their organisation and make a name for themselves in public, while at the same time showing their undying support for the dominant male-order.⁽²¹⁾ This was all to change from the 1920’s onwards as the second generation of Dutch-Afrikaans nationalist women acquainted themselves with philanthropic, cultural and political leadership positions. They “embraced motherhood whilst seeking to extend their sphere of action to include active participation in formulating social policy”⁽²²⁾ and soon concerned themselves with vrouesake or the business of women.

Inevitably, women were soon to realise that through the construction and promotion of Afrikaner nationalist ideals they were becoming objects of suffrage and motherhood, rather than being regarded as subjects and equals within society.⁽²³⁾ As iconic figures of suffering and maternity, women were constrained within a patriarchal society wherein activities such as rugby and the underground political dealings of the Broederbond ⁽²⁴⁾ were confined to the dealings of males, and males alone. 

The politics of nationalism

In 1938 the white population of South Africa rushed to the polls to make their mark, but unlike the past, this vote would not determine varying segregationist policies or instigate prevailing economic reforms. This time, the image of white motherhood was at stake, and the instigator was the Purified National Party’s leader, D.F. Malan. This former Calvinist minister, under the teaching of the Dutch Reformed Church, presented the South African voters with a striking image of a clear propaganda poster portraying his seceded political party’s view of women as the future bearers of racial purity.⁽²⁵⁾

It would come as little surprise that after Malan’s victory and the passing of Apartheid legislature, that the banning of ‘mixed’ marriages was one of the first bills to be passed. In the same year, 1938, South Africa was to host a spectacular centenary celebration of the Great Trek of 1838. In an effort to lure more Afrikaners to the cities, Afrikaners were called up to embark on ‘a second Great Trek’. Malan stated: “Your Blood River is not here. Your Blood River lies in the City… Believe in God! Believe in your volk! Believe in yourself!”⁽²⁶⁾

Famous historian Albert Grundlingh views the centenary celebrations as more than celebrating 100 years since their ancestors packed most of their belongings and headed into the unknown abyss. Afrikaners were led to believe that they had to fight the same battle as their ancestors against the natives and the British, “…the battlefield shifted: instead of facing the ‘enemy’ in the veld, the urban labour market now became the arena for struggle.”⁽²⁷⁾ What ensued was one of the most bizarre spectacles of nationalism in South Africa: babies were baptised in the shade of ox-wagons, christened with names such as Ossewania, Kakebenia and Eeufesia.⁽²⁸⁾ Young couples entered into wedlock wherever an ox-wagon made its stop, numerous streets were renamed after Voortrekker heroes and children literally climbed over each other just to rub the grease of the wagon axles on their handkerchiefs. The image of the Volksmoeder was exalted above everything else. Malan criticised women drinking liquor and smoking in public, while adorning Voortrekkerkappies (bonnets). “The Voortrekker celebrations evoked a degree of emotion throughout Afrikanerdom, which was almost alarming in its intensity…it penetrated all classes and in certain of its manifestations resembled something akin to mass hysteria.”⁽²⁹⁾

When the dust settled and the skies cleared, South Africa would enter the Second World War and emerge never quite the same again.

Concluding remarks

The ideal of the Volksmoeder clearly encompassed social, political and nationalist ideals for the future of male dominance over Afrikaner nationalism. According to Calvinist ideology, that propagated ‘A Chosen People’, the ‘Mother of the Nation’ permeated class, racial and ideological boundaries, restructured South African society as a whole.

Nationalism, the repercussions of the South African War and anti-imperialism were a few of the catalysts to the rise of the Volksmoeder and the National Party in 1948. The deliberate construction of mutual awareness, identity and symbols from literature to music were coupled under the umbrella of an ‘imagined community’ of Afrikaner nationalism.

Originally romanticised by nationalist politicians to meet their political and social ends, today the ‘imagined community’ of the Afrikaners has not simply faded away. Magazines such as Die Huisgenoot and Sarie Marais, to some degree, continue to influence conceptions that the Volksmoeder should be displaying characteristics such as nobility, beauty and respectability.

As presented by this paper, the history of the Volksmoeder in South Africa resonates with the five characteristics presented by Yuval-Davis and Anthias. Afrikaans women were biological producers of the Afrikaans nation restricted by their race (hence Malan’s inter-racial laws relating to sex and marriage) and language. In turn these women stood as both symbols for and re/creators of Afrikaans nationalism. They were expected to teach children Afrikaans heritage, and the cultural and symbolic significance of such endeavours was encapsulated in events like the recreation of the Great Trek.

It would only seem appropriate to follow in the footsteps of the Volksmoeder as she stepped out of a British concentration camp in 1902, basking in the sun of a new beginning as South Africa became a Union in 1910, endured two violent world wars in 1914 and 1939. Down on her knees, she pleads for a new beginning as “the memory women’s vital efforts during the [South African] war is washed away in images of feminine tears and maternal loss.”⁽³⁰⁾

Afrikaans women embodied (and continue to personify) Afrikaanerdom.

Written by Konrad Geldenhuys ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1)Contact Konrad Geldenhuys through Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Gender Issues Unit ( gender.issues@consultancyafrica.com).
(2)The Voortrekkers (Afrikaans and Dutch for pioneers, literally "those who pull ahead," "fore-trekkers") were emigrants during the 1830’s and 1840’s who left the Cape Colony (a British colony at the time, but originally founded by the Dutch in 1652) moving into the interior of what is now South Africa.
(3) Allen, D.C., 2001. Volksmoeder: Mother of a rugby playing nation. S.A. Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation, 23(2), pp. 1-6.
(4)Brink, E., 1990. “Man-made women: Gender, class and the ideology of the Volksmoeder”, in Walker, C. (ed.). Women and gender in Southern Africa. David Phillip: Cape Town.
(5)Thompson, E.P., 1978. The making of the English working class. Gollancz.
(6) Van Jaarsveld, F.A., 1974. New illustrated history for standard 6. Perskor Publishers: Johannesburg.
(7) Hobhouse, E., 1972. War without glamour or women’s experiences written by themselves 1899-1902. Portrayer Publishers.
(8) Walker, C., 1990. Women and gender in Southern Africa to 1945. David Phillip, Cape Town.
(9) Ibid.
(10) Yuval-Davis, N. and Anthias, F. (eds.), 1989.Women-Nation-State. Macmillan: London. 
(11) McClintock, A., 1993. Family feuds: Gender, nationalism and the family. Feminist Review, 44, pp. 61-80.  
(12) Vincent, L., 2000. Bread and honour: White working class women and Afrikaner nationalism in the 1930’s. Journal of Southern African Studies, 26(1), pp. 61-78.
(13) Die Klerewerker (translation), p. 9, October 1938.
(14) Anderson, B., 1983. Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Random House: London.
(15) Viljoen, L. and Viljoen, S., 2005. “Constructing femininity in Huisgenoot” in Van Eeden, J. and Du Preez, A. (eds.). South African visual culture. VanSchaik Publishers: Pretoria.
(16) Bundy, C., 1987. “Class, culture and Afrikaner nationalism”, in Remaking the past: New perspectives in South African History. Dept. of Adult Education and Extra-Mural Studies: Cape Town.
(17) The 1914 Rebellion broke out in South Africa at the start of World War I, in which men who supported the re-creation of a Boer South African Republic rose up against the Government of the Union of South Africa. Many members of the Government were themselves former Boers who had fought against the British in the South African War, which had ended 12 years earlier. The rebellion failed, and the ringleaders received heavy fines and terms of imprisonment.
(18) Walker, C., 1990. Women and gender in Southern Africa to 1945. David Phillip: Cape Town.
(19) McClintock, A., 1993. Family feuds: Gender, nationalism and the family. Feminist Review, 44, pp. 61-80.
(20) Postma, W., 1918. Die Boervrouw van haar Volk. Die Nasionale Pers: Bloemfontein.   
(21) Du Toit, M., 2003. The domesticity of Afrikaner nationalism: Volksmoeders and the ACVV, 1904-1929. Journal of Southern African Studies, 29(1), pp. 155-176.
(22) Ibid.
(23) Allen, D.C., 2001. Volksmoeder: Mother of a rugby playing nation. S.A. Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation, 23(2), pp. 1-6.
(24)The Broederbond or Afrikaner Brotherhood was a secret, exclusively male and Afrikaner Calvinist organisation in South Africa dedicated to the advancement of Afrikaner interests. It was founded in 1918 and was known as Jong Zuid Afrika (Young South Africa) until 1920, when it became the Broederbond. Its large influence within South African political and social life, sometimes compared to that of Masons in Freemason conspiracy theories, came to a climax with the rise of Apartheid, which was largely designed and implemented by Broederbond members. Between 1948 and 1994, all prominent figures of South African political life, including all leaders of the Government, were members of the Afrikaner Broederbond.
(25) Hyslop, J., 1995. White working-class women and the invention of Apartheid: ‘Purified’ Afrikaner nationalist agitation for legislation against ‘mixed’ marriages, 1934-1939. The Journal of African History, 36(1), pp. 57-81.
(26) Pienaar, S.W. and Scholtz, J.J.J. (Eds.), 1964. Glo in u volk: D.F. Malan as orator 1908-1954. Tafelberg: Cape Town.
(27) Grundlingh, A., 2005. “The politics of the past and of popular pursuits in the construction of everyday Afrikaner nationalism, 1938-1948” in Dubow, S. and Jeeves, A. (eds.). South Africa’s 1940’s: Worlds of possibilities. Double Story Books: Cape Town.
(28) These names are significant, as they can be translated as Ox wagon, Jaw and Centenary respectively. Moreover, they embodied the spirit of the Great Trek centenary celebrations, as individuals tried to tie in with the celebrations by personalising and relating with the spirit and euphoria of the day, sometimes to the extreme.
(29) Report by High Commissioner H.W. Clarke, 15 March 1940.
(30) McClintock, A., 1993. Family feuds: Gender, nationalism and the family. Feminist Review, 44, pp. 61-80.