Reading, Watching 02.25
Books, Articles, Exhibits
This is a regular feature for paid subscribers, wherein I write a little bit about what I’ve been recently reading, watching, or seeing. I hope you enjoy!
I think because of a recent episode of my podcast, I got suddenly very interested in the history of apartheid. Although racial discrimination and oppression dates to the beginning of European colonization of South Africa, apartheid as such was not a legal regime until 1948, with the ascension of the Afrikaner-nationalist National Party to power. I was particularly fascinated with the Afrikaner Broederbond, a secret society that formed sort of the nucleus of Afrikaner nationalist politics. I read an article called The Afrikaner Broederbond: Class Vanguard of Afrikaner Nationalism 1927-1948 by Dan O’Meara. Here’s how he describes the function of the organization during apartheid:
The introduction of capitalism to South Africa created class divisions among the white population; the AB fostered both an ideology and organizational basis to create an inter-class alliance among whites and overcome those divisions:
I’ve been informed by a historian of South Africa, Sarah Emily Duff, that scholarship has advanced quite a bit since the time of this article, and that while it is still valuable, there is now a more nuanced understanding of the AB’s role both in the formation of Afrikaner nationalism and the apartheid regime. It was just one of a number of important and powerful institutions, not necessarily the prime mover. Still, the idea of an evil secret society essentially running an entire state and society is irresistible to the imagination. The organizational form of a secret society also seems like a natural vehicle for an ideology of racist domination: it recapitulates the pattern of an elect few born and bred to rule.