livelihood towards consuming and behaving in ways that enrich and propel the regime (Jaffe, 1952, pp.166-167). The role of volkekunde would remain central to the apartheid establishment, shaping racially marginalising discourses in academia both in “whites-only” universities and “bush colleges” for abaNtu, the so-called Coloured, and other marginalised “non-white” groups. Moreover, it remained a key force in the organisation of certain government departments and organs (Sharp 1981). Its impact outside academia was quintessentially illustrated by its relationship with the South African Defence Force (SADF). The SADF was a major tool used as a stumbling block, violently preventing African people from successfully toppling the apartheid government and restoring their liberty through repression (Kynoch, 2016). By the 1970s, the SADF had opened up a military ethnology department predominated by Afrikaner ethnologists (Gordon, 2010). Be this as it may, however, with decades of resistance and struggle against apartheid, 1989 saw the beginning of the end of apartheid. Pressured by animosity even frommuch of the rest of the world, the apartheid government decided to undo certain legislative rules that served as its pillars and consider negotiations with the leaders of liberation movements and parties for a new dispensation that would be characterised by non-racialism and equality (Clark & Worger, 2011, pp. 111-112). This transition encouraged a move towards decolonisation in academia as a whole and the human sciences, in particular. Challenged by the demands that native populations in South Africa for the formulation of policies and programmes that could be put in place by an Afrikaner-led regime tomake a sustainable success of the apartheid project. On the other hand, it propounded narratives that would justify and legitimise apartheid policies (Dubow, 2015). The opening of the Eiselen Commission of 1949 and the appointment of its academics to government positions after the Afrikaner National Party took over power, in particular, are some examples of the pragmatic application of volkekunde to drive the previously mentioned Afrikaner nationalist aspirations (Seroto, 2013). Volkekunde-based scholarship, known as the Golden Age (Hammond-took, 1997), sought to contribute to the enactment of a myriad of racially segregationist and oppressive laws, which saw to it that the lives of African people would be orchestrated in such a way that their living patterns facilitated the maintenance of apartheid. Volkekunde acted as a kind of social intelligence body for the apartheid regime, aimed at uncovering immense knowledge of both the weaknesses and the capabilities of the oppressed indigenous societies. This was crucial to the benefactors of the system of apartheid as it helped the regime position its policies and programmes in such a way that it was always a step ahead in the maintenance of its dominance (Gordon, 2009). As a means to this end, by 1951, the Eiselen Commission had “[drawn] up a plan for ‘Bantu Education’”. Through ‘Bantu Education’, the apartheid government would channel and delimit possibilities and, thus, aspirations and endeavours of African people for securing The role of volkekunde would remain central to the apartheid establishment, shaping racially marginalising discourses in academia both in “whites-only” universities and “bush colleges” for abaNtu, the socalled Coloured, and other marginalised “non-white” groups. A Journey of Innovation 60
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