32 000 Afrikaners rocked up at the Voortrekker Monument on 16 December 2023; currently celebrated as Reconciliation Day in South Africa. Last year it was 35 000 attendees. 3/4

Textbook nationalist myth-making. Attendance of these gatherings, particularly at the Voortrekker Monument, dwindled at the end of apartheid. Attendance therefore lost its ritualistic nature a long time ago. Why are we seeing a resurgence of attendance the last few years? 2/4

There seems to be a revival of Day of the Vow gatherings. Historically these celebrations were a cornerstone of Afrikaner nationalistic propaganda which inculcated the idea that the Battle of Blood River (1838) was a triumph of Christian civilisation over African barbarism 🧵1/4

4/ One of my ongoing projects focuses on Beyers Naudé, a prominent Afrikaner church leader who became a powerful voice for justice and reconciliation, challenging the apartheid regime from within.

Great to be back in an archive! The Dutch Reformed Church Archive in Stellenbosch (with its great staff!) is really a treasure trove for historians of colonial and apartheid South Africa. Here I’m tracing archival bread crumbs on anti-apartheid activist Beyers Naudé.