Book presentation - BARBARA HENKES, Negotiating Racial Politics in the Family (2020)

Barbara Henkes, Negotiating Racial Politics in the Family: Transnational Histories Touched by National Socialism and Apartheid (2020)

Discussants:

Margriet van der Waal (South African literature, culture and history, UvA, and Euroculture, UG)|
Barbara Henkes (Contemporary History, UG)
Clemens Six (Contemporary History, UG)

Abstract

Barbara Henkes investigates the negotiations between various responsibilities and loyalties towards family, nation, and other obligations to-wards society and humanity when historical subjects become part of racist political regimes. By focussing on the life stories of pre-war German migrants in the Netherlands and post-war Dutch migrants in South Africa Henkes explores under what circumstances memories of National Socialism in Europe touch up-on the experiences of Apartheid in South Africa and the Netherland. The narratives of these transnational agents and their relatives provide a lens through which changing constructions of national identities, and the acceptance or rejection of a nationalist policy on racial grounds, can be observed in everyday practice.

Registration

To attend in person, please send an email to history rug.nl with the subject "book presentation". Collaboratory A is located in the Harmonie building.

There is also a livestream, which requires no registration. Simply follow the link: livestream.

The book

The e-book is available in the UG University Library and other university libraries.