Brother Nation or Lost Colony?

In The Dutch Rediscover the Dutch-Africans (1847-1900): Brother Nation or Lost Colony, vraagt Andrew Burnett zich af of de Hollandsche-Afrikanen in zuidelijk afrika een broedernatie van de Nederlanders waren of dat ze een kolonie vertegenwoordigen die de Nederlanders hadden verloren? Dit werk, dat primaire bronnen in het Nederlands en het Afrikaans met elkaar verbindt, vertelt het verhaal van de Nederlandse stamverwantschapsbeweging tussen 1847 en 1900. De witte Nederlands-Afrikanen werden voorgesteld als het bruggenhoofd naar een bredere Nederlandse identiteit – een ‘tweede Nederland’ in het zuiden. Deze studie onderzoekt hoe de 19e-eeuwse Nederlanders zich identificeerden met en idealiseerden een pastorale gemeenschap die opereerde binnen een raciaal gesegregeerde samenleving aan de rand van de Europese beschaving. Toen de stamverwantschapsdroom botste met de Britse militaire en economische macht, bleek het geloof dat ras, taal en religie een bredere Nederlandse identiteit konden dragen een illusie.

Op maandag 17 juli is Andrew Burnett in het Zuid-Afrikahuis om aspecten van zijn boek te bespreken door middel van een presentatie gevolgd door een gesprek met een panel van experts.

The Dutch Rediscover the Dutch-Africans (1847-1900): Brother Nation or Lost Colony   wordt uitgegeven door Brill.

Please note this event will be mostly in English

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In The Dutch Rediscover the Dutch-Africans (1847-1900): Brother Nation or Lost Colony, Andrew Burnett questions if the Hollandsche-Afrikanen in southern Africa were a brother nation to the Dutch or if they represented a colony which the Dutch had lost? Connecting primary sources in Dutch and Afrikaans, this work tells the story of the Dutch stamverwantschap movement between 1847 and 1900. The white Dutch-Africans were imagined to be the bridgehead to a broader Dutch identity – a ‘second Netherlands’ in the south. This study explores how the 19th century Dutch identified with and idealised a pastoral community operating within a racially segregated society on the edge of European civilisation. When the stamverwantschap dream collided with British military and economic power, the belief that race, language and religion could sustain a broader Dutch identity proved to be an illusion.

On Monday the 17^th of July, Andrew Burnett will be at the Zuid-Afrikahuis to discuss aspects of his book by giving a brief presentation followed by a conversation with a panel of experts.

The Dutch Rediscover the Dutch-Africans (1847-1900): Brother Nation or Lost Colony is published by Brill.

About the speakers

Andrew Burnett was born and educated in South Africa and the UK, and has worked as a lawyer in South Africa and Australia in labour law. He read Modern History at Oxford and more recently completed a PhD at the University of Western Australia. Andrew was raised in an English-speaking home, but circumstances required him to read and speak Afrikaans regularly as a young man. He brings to his study of the 19th century Dutch elites and their fascination with the Dutch-Africans an interest in the formation of national identity, particularly in the ‘settler colonies’ established during the period of European colonisation between the 17th and 19th centuries. His writing includes a study of the effect of the second Anglo-Boer war on Australian identity.

Barbara Henkes is historian, publicist, lecturer in modern history and senior researcher at the University of Groningen (RUG). Her work focusses on the field of 20th century migration, (trans)national identifications, racial exclusion – and the contemporary impact of a violent past (more specific under colonial and national socialist regimes).

Vincent Kuitenbrouwer is senior Lecturer History of International Relations. He is specialised in nineteenth- and twentieth-century imperial history, and has a special interest in colonial media. In 2012 he published the monograph War of Words. Dutch pro-Boer Propaganda and the South African War. In recent years he published on Dutch international radio-broadcasting in the late colonial era and the era of decolonisation. He currently co-ordinates the project ‘Media War’ on propaganda in Dutch-language media during the Second World War at the Dutch Institute for Sound and Vision.

Jacob Boersema is lecturer at New York University. He is a sociologist and historian who studies race, racism and whiteness in the South and North of the world. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University and a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University’s Center of Cultural Sociology. Can We Unlearn Racism: What South Africa Teaches Us About Whiteness, published by Stanford University Press, was published in August 2021.