Afrikaans, reformed and internetted : some outlines of current Afrikaans-e-spiritualities

Abstract

Post-apartheid Afrikaans cultural life has shown unanticipated directions of growth (eg art festivals, ‘alternative’ music and literature). The once influential Afrikaans community – almost per definition religious, Christian and Reformed/Calvinist – has adapted in a variety of ways to its post-1994 position. One of the unforeseen developments is the reach of Afrikaans speakers’ faith into the latest instrument of the mass media, the Internet. This includes the ‘e-church’, the New Reformation’s web service, subscribable e-mail devotionals, a cluster of popular-academic web-based services, and plans for a fully-fledged academic e-journal. Afrikaans speakers seem to find a public outlet in the Internet which furthers at once the religious and cultural aspects of their identity. In this paper, some contours of this dynamic are indicated.