Afterlives: resurrecting the South African border war
type: CreativeWork
description: [W]hile the image of the SADF as a heinous perpetrator of Apartheid violence is undeniable, it is being complicated by the emergence of a range of recent cultural productions. Using Jacqui Thompson’s collection of SADF memoirs, An Unpopular War: From Afkak to Bosbefok (2006), and the revival of Anthony Akerman’s play, Somewhere on the Border (2012), this thesis explores how these cultural productions assert an alternative, individual, and humanised rendering of the SADF soldiers who experienced the Border War. The attempt to render these soldiers in an alternative light signals an anxiety regarding the way the SADF is remembered in contemporary South Africa. This anxiety resonates with broader issues of the role of “victimhood” in South Africa’s national identity in the aftermath of Apartheid.
abstract: [W]hile the image of the SADF as a heinous perpetrator of Apartheid violence is undeniable, it is being complicated by the emergence of a range of recent cultural productions. Using Jacqui Thompson’s collection of SADF memoirs, An Unpopular War: From Afkak to Bosbefok (2006), and the revival of Anthony Akerman’s play, Somewhere on the Border (2012), this thesis explores how these cultural productions assert an alternative, individual, and humanised rendering of the SADF soldiers who experienced the Border War. The attempt to render these soldiers in an alternative light signals an anxiety regarding the way the SADF is remembered in contemporary South Africa. This anxiety resonates with broader issues of the role of “victimhood” in South Africa’s national identity in the aftermath of Apartheid.
author: Lazenby, Nicola
language: eng
date published: 2012
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:46Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of English Language and Literature

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12031