“From Africa to Patagonia: Voices of Displacement“
September 1, 2017 – August 31, 2019
“From Africa to Patagonia” analyzes how language is entangled with cultural identity in a community that traces its roots to South African Boers displaced to Patagonia in Argentina, after the second Anglo-Boer War in 1902. The Afrikaans spoken in this community encodes the vestiges of empires and modern nation building, and reflects the effects of change in the contemporary world. Through an approach that integrates linguistics, historiography, and anthropology, the project will study how this community’s language practices reveal both a commitment to preserving an identity distinct from their location in Argentina, and an integration that reflects the reality of historical and geographical change (PI: Nicholas Henriksen).