Research revives culture of boers in Argentina

In the first decade of the twentieth century, after the devastation wreaked by the Anglo-Boer War and the concentration camps, about 650 boers unwilling to accept British rule immigrated to the Patagonian desert in southern Argentina, reports Alberton Record.

The first generations in Patagonia eked out an isolated living in the harsh environment, but in the 1950s they increased contact with nearby communities in Sarmiento and Comodoro Rivadavia. They started intermarrying, creating a unique bilingual community made up of the Afrikaans and Spanish-speaking descendants of the original settlers.

Today, older members of the community still speak Afrikaans, although their dominant language is Spanish. As the younger generations, which only speak Spanish, become fully integrated into Argentine society, the bilingual community is quickly disappearing. To many of them, Patagonian Afrikaans is a relic of the past, but against the odds, a renaissance has begun.

Today, older members of the community still speak Afrikaans, although their dominant language is Spanish.

Researchers at the University of Michigan are conducting research on the Patagonian boers and their two languages. Part of the research is a project entitled From Africa to Patagonia: Voices of Displacement. 

The Patagonian Afrikaans dialect, spoken nowhere else, preserves elements of Afrikaans from before 1925, when the South African government recognised it as an official language. It provides a unique window into the history of Afrikaans from a period before its dialectal varieties were reduced through standardisation.

The team is gathering data about a period in the development of Afrikaans for which there is scant oral or written testimony. Their archive of oral interviews allows them to analyse the complex relationships among the community’s language, culture, and bilingual identity. It also provides data for future projects by researchers.

Time capsule

Since the community had been living outside of South Africa for over a century, the disappearance of its forefathers’ heritage seemed inevitable. By the late 1980s, observers characterised the community as virtually “extinct”. Yet, over the last two decades, there has been a resurgence of interest in promoting the boers’ unique cultural identity. This has included acquiring space to house a cultural centre and museum. Once-dead traditions, such as an annual games festival (boeresport), have also been revived.

This renewed interest has not been limited to the community. In 1995, anthropologist Brian du Toit published Colonia Boer, the first academic history of the settlement. In 2015, the community was showcased in a documentary, The Boers at the End of the World, which was directed by Richard Gregory, won three South African Film and Television Awards, and sparked significant international interest.

Watch The Boers at the End of the World teaser:

The project involves a team of more than 40 professors, post-doctoral researchers, and students at all levels. They come from a wide range of fields, including linguistics, history, anthropology, literature, and religious studies. Over the course of two research trips, they conducted nearly 100 interviews with community members in Afrikaans and Spanish.

The future

The children and grandchildren of the older community members responded to the teams 2014 visit by seeking out a teacher to offer online classes in Afrikaans.

The relevance of the project became clear to the team on their second research trip.

At one point, they invited three cousins to converse solely in Afrikaans, including Rebecka Dickason, who spoke only Afrikaans until the age of 10. During the conversation, her Spanish-speaking daughter, Tecky, witnessed a change in her mother’s behaviour.

Rebecka was smiling and gesturing as she conversed comfortably in her original native tongue. It was a powerful moment for Tecky, who thanked the team afterwards with tears in her eyes. She said: “Ustedes no saben lo que han hecho por mi madre. Le han insuflado vida. (You don’t know what you have done for my mother. You have breathed life into her.)”

Surnames of the Boers in Patagonia

This commemorative tablet was erected in 2002 to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of the Afrikaners in Patagonia. Pic: Eleanor Lombard.

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