Grondbesit in ’n postkoloniale plaasroman: Marlene van Niekerk se Agaat
Abstract
Marlene van Niekerk’s Agaat (2004) can be read as a postcolonial farm novel which pays particular attention to the role of women, the representation of Coloured farm workers as well as issues relevant to landownership in South Africa. In Agaat the question of landownership is foregrounded when Agaat, a coloured woman, becomes the owner of the farm Grootmoedersdrift and when Jakkie, the only son of the white woman farmer Milla de Wet, returns to Canada to resume his work in ethnomusicology. Agaat presents a problematisation of the influence wielded by landownership on the identity of the farmer, as Milla, who dearly loves her farm, also claims the farm to achieve her emancipatory objectives as a woman. Furthermore, Jakkie’s willing relinquishment of his claim to landownership contributes towards a problematisation of the identity formation of the Afrikaner farmer and his/her descendants in the farm novel. In contrast with the situation in the older farm novel, for Jakkie, landownership is no longer a defining identity marker. This article on land-ownership and, particularly, the relation between landownership and the identities of both Milla and Jakkie de Wet in Agaat, also assesses the contribution of Marlene van Niekerk’s novel to the development of the Afrikaans farm novel within a postcolonial context.
Opsomming
Marlene van Niekerk se Agaat (2004) kan as ’n postkoloniale plaasroman gelees word, wat spesifiek aandag skenk aan die rol van vroue, die representasie van gekleurde plaaswerkers asook aan kwessies oor grondeienaarskap in Suid-Afrika. In Agaat staan grondeienaarskap in die brandpunt wanneer Agaat, ’n bruin vrou, die eienaar van die plaas Grootmoedersdrift word en Jakkie, die enigste seun van die wit vroulike boer Milla de Wet, na Kanada terugkeer om sy werk as etnomusikoloog te hervat. Agaat problematiseer die invloed wat grondbesit op die boer se identiteit het deurdat Milla, wat weliswaar ’n liefde vir die plaas koester, die plaas ook gebruik om haar emansiperende doelwitte as vrou te bereik. Ook die feit dat Jakkie die reg tot grondbesit prysgee, dra by tot ’n problematisering van identiteitsvorming by die Afrikanerboer en sy/haar nageslag in die plaasroman: anders as in die geval van die ouer plaasroman is grondverbondenheid by Jakkie nie meer ’n bepalende identiteits-merker nie. Hierdie artikel oor grondeienaarskap, en spesifiek die verhouding tussen grondeienaarskap en die identiteite van sowel Milla as Jakkie de Wet in Agaat, neem ook die bydrae van Marlene van Niekerk se roman tot die ontwikkeling van die Afrikaanse plaasroman binne ’n postkoloniale konteks in oënskou.
Metrics
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2009 JLS/TLW
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.