Arm Afrikaner in die Knysnabos : witwees in Dalene Matthee se Moerbeibos (1987)

Abstract

Dalene Matthee’s four forest novels, translated into English as Circles in a Forest (1984), Fiela’s Child (1985), The Mulberry Forest (1987) and Dreamforest (2003), are characterised by what Wylie (2018:96) calls an “uneasy but deeply respectful symbiosis” between the forest community and the Knysna forest. This multifaceted connection between humans and the Knysna forest is also present in Matthee’s second last forest novel, The Mulberry Forest. In The Mulberry Forest, protagonist Silas Miggel lives with his daughter, Miriam, in the Knysna forest. The story is set between 1881 and 1882 and tells of Silas’ plight in caring for Italian immigrants who were brought to South Africa under the pretence of farming silk in a mulberry forest. Silas cares for the immigrants, who are forced by the British government to live in tents in the forest, in exchange for his right to live on crown land. As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that the British government aims to utilise the immigrants as cheap labour for cutting and milling wood. The novel ends in the closure of the mill, the devastation of the forest and Silas’ incarceration for unlawfully squatting on crown land. Whilst the analysis in this article is situated within the postcolonial ecocritical framework, in which the human-nonhuman-relationship and the effects of colonisation thereon are analysed, the emphasis in Matthee’s forest novels on the human-nonhuman-relationship is also underlined by the focus on specifically a poor white Afrikaner community’s connection with the African landscape. As a result, the forest novels are characterised by the absence of the first nations residing in the Knysna forest and instead promote, to a certain degree, the poor white Afrikaner community’s claim to the African landscape. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard (2007; 2015) argues that the emphasis in Afrikaans literature on the connection between poor white Afrikaners and the African landscape is a political and social strategy, aimed to promote and uphold Afrikaner nationalist narratives. For WilloughbyHerard (2007; 2015), this claim to the African landscape forms the foundation of Afrikaner identity which is utilised to present Afrikaners as an ancient tribe of Africa. The portrayal of the so-called poor white Afrikaner’s connection to the African landscape is historically represented in Afrikaans literature. Especially the farm novels of the 1930s depict the connection between white Afrikaners and the African landscape. Although The Mulberry Forest does not depict specifically a farm setting and is indeed novel in depicting the human connection to the Knysna forest, the overlapping themes between the farm novels of the 1930s and The Mulberry Forest, as well as the similarities between the depiction of the African landscape, present the possibility that The Mulberry Forest could be interpreted as a novel supporting Afrikaner nationalist narratives. These themes focus on the African landscape inhabited by Afrikaners as romantic, mythical, and idyllic. The Afrikaner community feels at home and finds meaning in the African landscapes presented in the farm novels, despite it being a patriarchal, historical, and feudal space (Van Coller, 2006:96). This article utilises Willoughby-Herard’s work (2007; 2015) in whiteness studies as a theoretical framework to analyse Dalene Matthee’s The Mulberry Forest (1987). By utilising Van Coller’s (2003; 2006) description of the African landscape portrayed in the farm novels of the 1930s, as well as the themes encapsulated by these novels, this article aims to analyse the portrayal of an Afrikaner community’s claim to the Knysna forest, as well as the absence in portrayal of the Knysna forest’s Outeniqua tribe. To determine how the poor white Afrikaner community in The Mulberry Forest is depicted as intertwined with the African landscape as nonhuman, this article firstly analyses how the protagonist, Silas Miggel, and the Italian silk farmers’ relationship with the Knysna forest is depicted. Thereafter the article investigates the influence that British colonialism has on this human-nonhuman-relationship. To conclude, this article compares the themes depicted in The Mulberry Forest and the first wave of farm novels in Afrikaans. Through this comparison of themes, a conclusion can be formulated as to whether, or not, The Mulberry Forest could be considered as upholding Afrikaner nationalist narratives. Despite overlapping themes and the similarities between the depiction of the African landscape in The Mulberry Forest and the farm novels of the 1930s, this article also investigates the depiction of Silas as a tragic hero whose plight as a representative of the Afrikaner community is brought on by his own self-deception. This article finds that the focus on Silas’ self-deception, as well as the portrayal of the Italian immigrants as a community situated between the postcolonial Self and Other, problematises the homogenous and monolithic racial classifications found in Afrikaner nationalist narratives. Therefore, The Mulberry Forest could also be read as a novel investigating and challenging the upheld belief of a connection between white Afrikaners and the African landscape found in Afrikaner nationalist narratives.

Dalene Matthee se bosromans is gekenmerk deur wat Wylie (2018:96) ’n “uneasy but deeply respectful symbiosis” tussen die bosgemeenskap en die Knysnabos noem. Hoewel die veelvlakkige verbintenis tussen die bosgemeenskap en die Knysnabos in Moerbeibos op die agtergrond afspeel, is hierdie verbintenis desnieteenstaande teenwoordig. In Moerbeibos, soos ook deurgaans in Matthee se ander bosromans, is die klem egter alleenlik op spesifiek arm, wit Afrikaners se verbintenis met die Afrikalandskap. Sodoende is die bosromans gekenmerk deur die afwesigheid van die eerste nasie(s) van die Knysnabos. Die uitbeelding van die verbintenis tussen die mens en die Afrikalandskap, en spesifiek die wit Afrikaner se aanspraak op Afrikagrond, is in konteks van die breër Afrikaanse literêre tradisie ’n verskynsel wat reeds voorkom in die eerste plaasromans (Meyer, 2016). Die plaasromans, soos Matthee se bosromans, fokus op die (arm) wit Afrikaner se verbintenis met die Afrikalandskap. Volgens Van Coller (2006:96) is die Afrikanerruimtes wat in die eerste golf plaasromans uitgebeeld word, singewend, idillies, feodaal, mities, onvervreembaar, patriargaal, histories, en religieus. Soortgelyk aan die eerste golf plaasromans voel die hoofkarakter in Moerbeibos, Silas, tuis in die bos, ten spyte van die patriargale en byna feodale stelsels wat die houtkappergemeenskap verarm. Die bos word uitgebeeld as ’n idilliese ruimte waarin wette en mitiese verbintenisse tussen die mens en die niemenslike heers, terwyl dit ook ’n ruimte is waarin die bosgemeenskap in al Matthee se bosromans skynbaar deur beide die niemenslike en die regerende Britse moondheid verwerp word. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard (2007; 2015) voer aan dat die klem in die Afrikaanse letterkunde op die verbintenis tussen juis die sogenaamde armblanke en Afrikagrond deel uitmaak van die Afrikanernasionalistiese narratiewe waarin Afrikaneridentiteit, sowel as die Afrikaner se aanspraak op Afrika, bevorder word. In hierdie artikel word Dalene Matthee se tweede laaste bosroman, Moerbeibos (1987), vanuit Willoughby-Herard (2007; 2015) se werk in kritiese witweesstudies geanaliseer. Deur te steun op Van Coller (2003; 2006) se omskrywing van die Afrikalandskap soos uitgebeeld word in die plaasromans, sowel as die temas teenwoordig in die plaasromans, word die uitbeelding van ’n Afrikanergemeenskap se aanspraak op die Knysnabos en ook die afwesigheid van die Outeniqua-stam in Moerbeibos geanaliseer. Die analise van Moerbeibos in hierdie artikel fokus op die vraag oor hoe die arm, wit Afrikanergemeenskap in Moerbeibos as verstrengel met die niemenslike natuur uitgebeeld word, en of hierdie uitbeelding ’n Afrikanernasionalistiese narratief bevorder. Om hierdie vraag te beantwoord, sal daar eerstens ’n kort oorsig van die postkoloniale ekokritiek en witweesstudies uiteengesit word waarvolgens Moerbeibos se temas in verband gebring sal word met dié van die plaasromantradisie, soos deur Van Coller (2006) bespreek word.