Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: Establishing the Territory
- 2 Immigration, Nations and National Identity
- 3 ‘A White Man's Land’: Indian Immigration and the 1913 Immigrants Regulation Act
- 4 Not White Like Us: Preserving the ‘Original Stocks’ and the Exclusion of Jewish Immigrants
- 5 Building an Unhyphenated Nation: British Immigration and Afrikaner Nationalism
- 6 One (White) Nation, One Fatherland: Republicanism, Assisted Immigration and the Metaphysical Body
- 7 Democratic South Africa: Inclusive Identities and Exclusive Immigration Policies
- 8 Conclusion: Nationalisms, National Identities and South Africa's Immigration Policies
- Notes to Chapters
- Appendix 1 Total, immigration and emigration, and net gain/loss in migration, by sex, 1924–2004
- Appendix 2 Immigration by country of previous permanent residence, birth and citizenship, 1924–2004
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - One (White) Nation, One Fatherland: Republicanism, Assisted Immigration and the Metaphysical Body
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 October 2019
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: Establishing the Territory
- 2 Immigration, Nations and National Identity
- 3 ‘A White Man's Land’: Indian Immigration and the 1913 Immigrants Regulation Act
- 4 Not White Like Us: Preserving the ‘Original Stocks’ and the Exclusion of Jewish Immigrants
- 5 Building an Unhyphenated Nation: British Immigration and Afrikaner Nationalism
- 6 One (White) Nation, One Fatherland: Republicanism, Assisted Immigration and the Metaphysical Body
- 7 Democratic South Africa: Inclusive Identities and Exclusive Immigration Policies
- 8 Conclusion: Nationalisms, National Identities and South Africa's Immigration Policies
- Notes to Chapters
- Appendix 1 Total, immigration and emigration, and net gain/loss in migration, by sex, 1924–2004
- Appendix 2 Immigration by country of previous permanent residence, birth and citizenship, 1924–2004
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The constituent parts of the nation must first unite themselves to such an extent that all immigrants who come to the country are absorbed by the united nation as happens in the United States … this is one of the reasons why I am becoming anxious that a republic should be established. Only when there is one state to which everyone owes allegiance … one nation with one fatherland and one loyalty, only then will the nation and the country be in a position to receive immigrants on a large scale, and to absorb them.
H.F. Verwoerd, Prime Minister, 27/1/1959Introduction
The reinvention of South Africa as a republic in May 1961, following a referendum of white voters in October 1960, created the ‘one nation with one fatherland and one loyalty’ that H.F. Verwoerd and other Afrikaner nationalists had been hankering after. The formation of the Republic reshaped the nation and the national vision and allowed the state to construct a new, inclusive white national identity that could embrace immigrants. South Africa, no longer a hyphenated nation, and controlled by Afrikaner nationalists, now felt confident enough to open the doors to immigration with a new state-aided immigration scheme.
In 1959 Verwoerd articulated the relationship between the nation-building project and national identity and immigration policy of the state and Afrikaner nationalism. Before the state could open the country to large-scale immigration, two problems had to be resolved. The first was what Verwoerd called the ‘colour problem’. The government needed to be confident that immigrants would not undermine its racist racial policies. The second was the country's need for a homogeneous people who could, in turn, absorb large numbers of immigrants. Anything less, he argued, would do great harm to the immigrants themselves and to national unity. Verwoerd saw selective immigration as the answer to the first problem and republicanism as the answer to the second.
The struggle over white South African identity started to decline in significance in the late 1950s, particularly given the economic advances made by Afrikaners during the decade. Repeated election victories for the National Party and success in the referendum on a republic suggested that English-speaking South Africans and British immigrants who had acquired the vote were not a threat to the electoral aspirations of the National Party or its apartheid policies.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Selecting ImmigrantsNational Identity and South Africa's Immigration Policies 1910-2008, pp. 109 - 136Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 2009