Cosmopolitanism in early Afrikaans music historiography, 1910-1948

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Current musicological discourses in South Africa seldom engage with Afrikaans content andcontributions, even though there is an acknowledged large body of writing on music inAfrikaans. These writings could significantly inform music and general historiographies inSouth Africa. This study discusses music-related articles in the following Afrikaansmagazines and newspapers of the early twentieth century: Die Brandwag (1910-1921), DieBurger (1915-1948), Die Huisgenoot (1916-1948), Die Nuwe Brandwag (1929-1933), DieBrandwag (1937-1948) and Die Transvaler (1937-1948).The subject matter of a large proportion of these music-related articles comprises thehistory of Western European music. This includes biographies of composers and histories ofstylistic periods, genres and instruments. Despite the physical distance between Europe andAfrica, Afrikaners' attraction to Europe borders at times on a feeling of belonging to thistradition. This cosmopolitan notion of belonging has received little attention compared tothemes of race, language and nationalism in twentieth-century South African historiography.A neglected Afrikaans discourse on music, however, presents an opportunity to explore thepossibilities of cosmopolitanism in a further interpretation of Afrikaner identity andunderstanding of South African history. It is for this reason that the current study is primarilyconcerned with tracing the role of musical discourse in Afrikaner society between 1910 and1948 by investigating notions of cosmopolitanism.The two theoretical strands of cosmopolitanism that will guide this study concern thework of Friedrich Meinecke (an early twentieth-century German scholar), and KwameAnthony Appiah (who is still active in the field of philosophy). Meinecke's work is mainlyconcerned with the role cosmopolitan values played in the development of the National State,with specific reference to Germany from the late eighteenth century to the late nineteenthcentury. What attracts Appiah to cosmopolitanism is the freedom it provides for the individualto create her own identity. To be a citizen of the world need not be a rootless existence, butallows anyone to be a patriot of the country of her own choice.Meinecke's and Appiah's theories of cosmopolitanism, and their different positioningof the intersecting points between the spheres of the individual, the nation and the globe, willprovide two theoretical frameworks informing the present author's attempt to interpret someof the materials collated for this study. The present writer believes that cosmopolitanism willprove an appropriate theory to uncover some elements of Afrikaner identity that has hithertobeen ignored.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University