“Taal op Tuks” A reappraisal of the change in language policy at the University of Pretoria, 1932

Abstract

This article will compare the account of the language question at UP as portrayed in Ad Destinatum with information from other sources, including Afrikaans and English newspaper reports, minutes of meetings of university bodies, oral and written testimonies of former students, as well as articles written on the language question at South African universities. It also makes use of the relatively little used documentation of the University of Pretoria Archives. The aim of this article is to look at the value, as well as possible pitfalls in the use of official institutional histories in historical research. More specifically, the article will focus on the way in which a particular school of historical writing can influence the interpretation of certain events in the past. It also points to the misrepresentation of a figure as prominent as General J.C. Smuts, due to the distinct political persuasion of the author of this institutional history.