Nation

However, in Afrikaans the words have a specific meaning and strong emotive qualities, notably in certain periods of the history of the Afrikaners, when the Afrikaans-speaking white population of tyhe country were striving towards a sense of nationhood. For a long while thus it was broadly defined as a grouping of people who share a common history, language and ethnic origin, and usually govern thenmselves or strive for it.

Under the new, far more complex ethnic, linguistic and historic circumstances of the "New South Africa" of 1994, this definition is being challenged on a number of fronts, and in fact the country itself is faced with the dilemma of re-defining nationhood per se.