Three people embark on a road trip in a rental car. Two of them are Afrikaners and one is Dutch. Two historians and a sociologist. Three white women. Feel free to choose your combination. I am behind the wheel, a little apprehensive about the state of the Eastern Cape roads. We’ve all heard the stories. I have no problem negotiating a Joburg traffic jam, a five-lane highway or the Buccleuch Interchange, but a desolate, unlit platteland road riddled with potholes is a different matter altogether.
It is June 2023, and my companions and I are on our way from Gqeberha to Makhanda to attend the biennial conference of the Historical Association of South Africa at Rhodes University. I wasn’t particularly keen to go at first, but my Dutch kindred spirit persuaded me to join her to reflect on our complicity in history. We will present a panel discussion during which we will scrutinise our involvement in the history we are writing. As an Afrikaner, my being is inextricably entwined with the complexity of this country and its past. The same goes for her as a Dutchwoman; she ponders the Netherlands’ role in colonialism and slavery, and its involvement in National Socialism. Our sociology colleague wrestles with the same issues – and about being white and about women who supported Afrikaner nationalism.
Needless to say, we have a lot to talk about, but my biggest challenge is to stay focused on the road. My fears were unfounded, though. We have more than enough daylightthe kilometres to Grahamstown – aka Makhanda – smoothly and faster than I’d expected. Along the way we talk about the notion of a “frontier” and the Eastern Cape Government’s marketing of the area’s “frontier history” to tourists. Whose frontier? Was the area ever a frontier for its native inhabitants? I’m referring to the American tradition of frontier history, which was also adopted by earlier South African historians: the idea of a frontier as a contact zone, a place where struggle and cooperation are bedfellows. Some aspects of it make sense, but the framework has since become outdated.
