‘Om weer mens te word’: Identiteit, onreg, skuld en restitusie in die RSG-vertelreeks Almal het ’n storie

A history of internal division marks the Afrikaans speech community. In the past the Afrikaans language was often claimedas ‘the white man language’, a presupposition that led to the common assertion that it was ‘the language of apartheid’. Much of the politics underlying these historical perceptions involve the expression of Afrikaner nationalism during the 20th century. Since the early 1990s the South African society has undergone fundamental political and social changes, also regarding the Afrikaans language. This article explores an Afrikaans radio series Almal het ’n storie (“Everyone has a story”) that illustrates some of these changes regarding current identity formation and social restitution processes. The article will provide an overview of Almal het ’n storie, followed by brief summaries of the story lines of two selected storytelling performances and a closer analysis of its underlying expressions of identity. A more generalised discussion of identity formation and restitution in the radio series will conclude the paper. To put these matters in overall perspective the identity politics of the Afrikaans language, a background history of the radio station and the series sponsor, an Afrikaans cultural association, and their recent strategic changes will introduce the paper along with an abbreviated overview of restitution as formulated in Elazar Barkan’s The Guilt of Nations: Resititution and Negotiating Historical Injustices (2000)