‘To Buttress the Ideal of National Unity’: Broad South Africanism and Higher Education in the Early Twentieth Century

Abstract

Higher education and universities in South Africa underwent a period of significant development and expansion in the period following the South African War (1899–1902). At the same time, one of the significant facets of this era was the dramatically changing nature of white identities in South Africa. A new unified white identity known as broad South Africanism was promoted in a number of quarters by the successive administrations of the Transvaal and South African Union. For the purposes of this project, institutions for higher learning were viewed by both the public and the country's authorities as critical places where the country's youth could be welded together into a new broad South African nation, learning tolerance and broad-mindedness. This article considers how these ideals were related to higher education, by looking at the official and public view of the purpose of higher education at this time. It will begin by briefly reflecting on the way these notions were evident in higher education prior to the South African War. Under each administration following the War, the perceived unifying and nationalising function of universities is then explored, paying particular attention to the relationship between broad South Africanism and aspirations regarding South African higher education.