Afrikaner

Afrikaners are white South Africans of predominantly Calvinist Dutch, German, French Huguenot, Friesian and Walloon descent who speak Afrikaans. Afrikaners are also sometimes referred to as Boers, but many Afrikaners now view this as a derogatory term.

Today

In recent years there has been an movement by some Afrikaners to encourage the mixed race "coloured" population of South Africa, most of whom speak Afrikaans as their first language, to consider themselves Afrikaners. The Afrikaans word for the coloured people of South Africa and Namibia is "kleurlinge", but sometimes they are called "bruine afrikaners" or "bruinmense", meaning brown people. This has seen some success despite the history of exclusion during the colonial and apartheid eras. However, many Afrikaans-speaking coloureds feel they have developed a separate identity from white Afrikaans speakers due to the strict segregation policies of the apartheid years.

Related Topics:
Coloured - White - Segregation

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Recently, some liberal Afrikaans-speaking South Africans and Namibians have started rejecting the label 'Afrikaner', because of its negative connotations of racism, conservatism and religious intolerance. Some use the racially neutral term "Afrikaanses" to refer to themselves as persons whose mother tongue is Afrikaans, regardless of racial identity or apartheid-era categorization.

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A group of Afrikaners has settled in the dilapedated old ghost town of Orania, with the goal of ultimately gaining a homeland for Afrikaners where they can obtain self-determination.

Related Topics:
Orania - Self-determination

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