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Paying the Field: The Cultural Economy of Afrikaans at Naspers

This study aims to broaden the analytical scope of critical political economy as a research paradigm. The unclear, and politically problematic, postapart-heid positioning of the biggest media company in South Africa, Naspers, and the Afrikaans language is analyzed. The analysis treats Naspers in relation to its original constituents, Afrikaner nationalists and Afrikaans culture, as well as the historic transformation of its two oldest, and arguably most prominent, print publications—Die Burger and Huisgenoot. A qualitative content analysis was undertaken, using concepts from Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory and Partha Chatterjee’s critical theory of (post)colonial nationalism. This study argues that the relationship between Naspers and Afrikaans was determined by the nature of nationalism and the requirements of capitalism to which it is linked. Given the present historical context, and ideologically speaking from a cultural economy point of view, this analysis concludes that Afrikaans has become less profitable for Naspers.

Keywords: Afrikaans, Afrikaners, apartheid, P. Bourdieu, capital, P. Chatterjee, cultural economy, Die Burger, field theory, habitus, Huisgenoot, Media24, Naspers, nationalism, passive revolution, postcolonialism, South Africa