Abstract:
During the University of Cape Town’s memorial lecture for André P. Brink in 2015, Ian Glenn (Loots, 2015) honoured Brink as the last of a generation with the right and duty to legitimate protest. Glenn claimed that Afrikaners after Brink embodied the philosopher Zygmunt Bauman’s (2000) idea of liquid moderns: a suggestion that Afrikaners are preoccupied with self-interest and that they shy away from involvement in the public political arena or from common ideals (Loots, 2015). This article will firstly investigate Bauman’s theorising of liquid modernity to clearly distinguish it from Glenn’s interpretation (and application to Afrikaners). By focusing on selected Afrikaans fiction published after 2000, this article will secondly indicate why Glenn’s statement is problematic, by pointing out how the postcolonial literary depiction of disillusioned and pessimistic Afrikaner identity can be read as a call for involvement with the aim of activating positive social and cultural change. Even though this involvement is addressed through a focus on self-interest, namely Afrikaner identity, there is still a reflection regarding the manner this Afrikaner identity forms part of a bigger South African identity. The way in which this Afrikaner identity can be used in a positive way in a changed society and world, is also reflected on.
