Deon Opperman’s Donkerland: the rise and fall of Afrikaner nationalism

Abstract

In his epic play on Afrikaner history (from the Great Trek in 1838 to the birth of the new South Africa in 1994) Deon Opperman (award-winning South African playwright) presents the parallel and interlinked histories of two families – represented by a white patriarch and a black matriarch and their various descendants – against the background of important historical developments in South Africa. The article focuses on the depiction of the birth and demise of Afrikaner nationalism by identifying the “self” in Opperman’s Donkerland, and by discussing the relationship of the self versus the “other” in this play.