Peter Chew
ERH-101-02
Mrs. Smith
July 15, 2022
Word Count: 2,650
HR: Works Cited Page, The concept of Discourse Community by John Swales. Peter N. Chew
The Discourse Community of The Border War
A community that once existed in great numbers, unbeknown to many, was in the middle of a forgotten conflict. Unprecedented events caused despair in this community, dissolved by politics. Its sole existence remained with the various peoples who served in such a community. Its memory is made vivid only in occasional events of remembrance of that unique time. With the passage of time, the community members have slowly gone away with time, some of the old age, while others simply disconnected themselves from it. Some couldn’t escape the way of life that the war imposed on them and so they sought their own adventure outside the country in the action-packed life of a Mercenary. Some became top executives of multinational firms or lived humble lives as dairy farmers. There are many stories about the outcome of the members of the Bush War. Despite all this, the past is preserved, not only in museums but as a living culture by the survivors of the conflict or by their children who maintain their unique style of language, specifically words, that are solely exclusive to the men who lived and fought on the Southern Angolan Border.
After years of learning about history, I found myself searching articles and documentaries regarding the Cold War, an intriguing time, a moment in human history when tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States threatened world peace. The Cuban missile crisis brought the threat of nuclear annihilation to the suburbs of Florida. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was a period of small regional wars, tales of espionage, geopolitical chess, and a world divided between East and West. The Cold War environment fostered cultural changes in the West such as the civil rights movements. As I sought knowledge on the Cold War, I become intrigued with what can be considered obscure history such as the Angolan Bush War where South African Defense Forces (SADF), found themselves in a proxy war with the Eastern Bloc nations in the testing grounds of the Angolan Civil War.
However, my journey started when I was invited to join a server on an online social media communication app called “Discord”. Being a part of this server was my introduction to this specific discourse community (Swales 466), that was entirely centered on the South African Bush War, it comprised of several resources that further increased my knowledge on the subject due to my interaction with forums, archival documents, pictures, and a long list of recommended books on this subject. It was made up of mostly people who had a shared interest in the subject either by historical curiosity or by a member whose family participated in that part of history. It also had a few historians who greatly contributed to the content of this discourse community (Swales 466). In this community, I became aware of the usage of slang and lexis that were specific to the Bush Wars. After being exposed to this language while on this Discord Server, I ended up doing my own research out of curiosity. I came across a wide range of slang unique to the SADF and the South African culture of the 1970s-1990s, making it a qualifier to a Discourse Community (Swales 471). Some language may be judged as offensive or objectionable. However, they reflect the culture of that time.
The local language has a wide range of linguistical origins such as English, brought by the British colonists, Zulu from African tribes who lived in the region of South Africa, along with the Khoisan peoples, or Bushman who were unique lighter skin peoples of Namibia-Southern Angola. In addition, the Afrikaners speak the language of the Dutch settlers who originally settled the Cape of Good Hope, and who made up Although, Afrikaans, the language of the Dutch settlers who originally settled the Cape of Good Hope, and who made up the majority of the 71,000 personnel at the height of the Border War in 1988 (Tsokodayi 1-305). The Afrikaners informally known as Boers (Dutch farmers), during the latter half of the 20th century served as a medium of exchange of language that comprised the lingua franca (McCormick 91-109), of the society and institutions of the South African Government, including its Armed Forces. Despite being a white minority in the country, it made up for this fact by its sheer cultural influence and control of control. Hence, why the language is solely unique and linguistic to that part of the world. Much of its cultural and linguistic influence is found in slang and lexis. As well much of it was taken and brought by the younger generation of that time such as teenagers who were called upon for their mandatory conscription at the age of eighteen. A substantial influx of teenagers brought with them these words from popular culture of that decade into the strict environment of the formidable South African Military, an environment of formal and informal tone and language for code-switching. A wide vocabulary of new distinctive terms made up that discourse community (Swales 470), terms that were used by the rookie to the officer class within the governing bodies of the SA military. The men found comfort in words that were often humorist, times offensive, or used to describe a stressful, chaotic situation, as they felt a sense of further belonging, simply by its usage.
Nothing beats a good barbecue on a hot summer’s day out in the blazing sun south of the equator on the arid, dune sands of the Northern border of Southwest Africa (today known as Namibia). However, the Afrikaners had their own term for BBQ, as they called it a “Braai” one of the most appreciated cultural words and aspects of South Africa, a delightful activity, especially for the men stationed on an Oshivello – A base inside the operational area in Southwest Africa. Unique meats were a delight among the soldiers for a feast, such as the Owambo piele – Vienna sausages, or the delicious Boerewors – literally meaning for farmer’s sausage. Owambo Rico – extremely potent home-brewed liquor, distilled from the sap of the makalani palm tree (SWA / Angola ops. area). After a nice evening at the makeshift bar, a young rookie at the border may occasionally drink too much makalani for his own good, to the point where they suffer from the dreadful “Babbelas” – Derived from the Zulu word “ibhabhalazi” to describe a bad hangover, (Kinnear 1). Apart from the various foods and their terms, the situation of the war and what was a stake was no matter of relief. Unlike the United States which perused the geopolitical strategy of the “Domino Theory” to contain the spread of communism around the world. Such a scenario of being utilized is the famous example of the Vietnam War, which at no instant was the threat of communism as close to being on the borderlands of the U.S.A. The opposite was true for the case of S.A. The “Winds of Change” as it was called was spreading across the continent of Africa, the void left by the retreat of colonial European powers and the politburo of the Soviet Union noticed an opportunity to fill in this void and lunch a series of Red revolutions armed and backed by the Eastern Bloc. Black Nationalists under the notion of self-determinism and liberation of the dispossessed workers of the world.
A liberation movement that consumed much of the continent from Nairobi to Mombasa. Much of Sub-Sharan Africa was completely changed, the old world of Africa had died, and a new Africa was born. However, this child (Africa) was left to their own devices, abandoned by the Europeans. As a result, the lack of supervision by a higher power, the centuries-old territorial separation of different ethnicities, territorial lines being completely altered, and ethnic groups assumed control of newly independent nations. The dormant rivalries between African peoples were reignited, and as a result, a dark time engulfed much of Africa, with civil wars, genocides, and abuses inflicted by such rivalries between different ethnicities of Sub-Sharan, Africa. The Portuguese took notice of such changes, and they were one of a few European powers reluctant to completely abandon their prized overseas colonial possessions. Hence, they fought a bloody and long colonial war, against black nationalists and communists with their independence movements in an effort of maintaining their cherished colonial holdings. Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau fell to the red movement, and Angola became another victim. This is where South Africa becomes involved. Namibia was under the control of the Republic of South Africa. However, the Revolutionary movements fighting for the cause of the revolution sought to “liberate” the peoples of Namibia who found themselves under Western Capitalist white minority rule. All of which the Black nationalist detested. Revolutionaries and Nationalist trespassing into the terrorist of Namibia in the efforts to convert the territory to their cause. This was a national security threat to the South African Government and their interests who devised a policy of counterinsurgency and sent the Military to contain any further raids and movements along the Southern Angolan Border. Many of these Black nationalists were given the nickname of “Terr’s” (SADF slang for terrorists), while also seen as freedom fighters by some western institutions. Nevertheless, they were engaged in countless acts of terrorism, and their sole nature of fighting was motivated by political violence, defined as terrorism.
The South African military had units such as the 32 Battalion that comprised a mixed racial unit, becoming a great source of diversity. The men in their unit were unsegregated and not judged based on their skin. The 32 Battalion served as a sanctuary of good honorable men, who saw passed the color of the skin of others and trusted the men beside them in the trench and during the time of battle. With this uniqueness of a mix of men of all different backgrounds, there was a distinctive speech style and usage of slang. With Afrikaners, Xhosa, Khoisan, and countless other ethnicities all bunch together in one working environment, there was no question of a rich exchange of cultural and language elements. For instance, the Khoi-San expression for being surprised is “Eish!”, soon took over the lingual of most members of the unit. The Afrikaans word that could go along with anything, really, that serves as a good connotation that means “nice” or “good” is the word “Lekker” (Kinnear 1). This is used very commonly today among South Africans and was common back then during the Bush War. While in the United States, a popular word from popular culture that has taken up the vocabulary of many teenagers is the word “Bro”. A similar word is used in S.A. – “Bru” used to call a friend, pal, or buddy, a common word in popular culture.
The language barrier was fused between different cultures. The rich co-existence of different ethnicities and cultures in a military environment created bonds, friendships, and mutual respect along with the adoption of words that made up that unique discourse community (Swales 470). The gradual development from this interaction indirectly served as a counter to the racial laws of apartheid. The mere fact that peoples of all different colors, creeds, backgrounds, ethnicity, and cultures could merely co-exist in a teamwork environment and rely on one another to survive a war, is a clear case that the political cause of apartheid was a fallacy. The men of the 32 Battalion broke the barrier set by apartheid. They ate the same detested rations, slept in the blazing heat, and lived together out in the bush. If it wasn’t for their war environment, the white and the black men would have never interacted in such a way, instead continuing their old way of life, following the rules of apartheid.
The mutual respect formed by these men in the military translated to regular life in South Africa, as some of these men would later hire their companions from the war, black or white, it no longer mattered as they were judged based on their reputation and skill and not color. The co-existence between different peoples later influenced the language and popular culture of the next generation of South Africa. The changed perspective on apartheid from the men in service during the Bush War, had an influence on the fall of apartheid since their cooperation was a contradiction to the justifications made by racial segregation. With the fall of apartheid, the schools became unsegregated, and the youth interacted with schoolmates of different backgrounds comparable to the men during the Bush War. Another barrier broken, this co-existence of schools allowed for the continual exchange of language and words, as some of these kids had already been influenced by their family since their fathers had served in the Bush War and brought an upbringing with the unique language taken from the interaction between the Afrikaner and other ethnicities.
South African society existed in such a polarized state during the time of Apartheid and the Bush War. When Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black President of the Republic. South Africa as a nation had to gradually attempt to improve the relations between whites and blacks. Entertainment such as the sport of Rugby became a central focus point for this task since the sport was historically cantered to the white Afrikaners minority population, with their famous national team called the “Springboks”. The problem was that a portion of the black population was originally in opposition to the sport since the national team still served as a remembrance of the Apartheid era. What fluctuated the civilian perspective from the military perspective of men that served in the Bush War was that become of their co-existence and exchange of different cultural values, rugby was a common likable topic between the white and black servicemen, which facilitated the promotion of unification of culture. A process that took longer to instill in the civilian aspect of the country.
The discourse community (Swales 472) created during the Bush War was unquestionably distinctive, despite its existence being relatively obscure to the rest of the world. However, it had an influential impact on the formation of public opinion regarding the co-existence between white and black people, a behavior that later shaped the rest of the nation. The unique exchange of language and culture defined this community into what it is. It proved that there could be a healthy co-existence between both groups without the fear of blatant discrimination. The multi-language utilized in the bush environment among the service members was contrarian in nature to the strict rules of language sent by the South African Government as to how apartheid laws made a preference for “proper” language, being Afrikaans and English recognized as official languages of the apartheid government. Baring no attention to the native African languages. An example of this is after Nelson Mandela took power, with the end of apartheid. The South African government recognized eleven official languages, 9 of those being native African languages that comprise the people of the nation. Slang and lexis were unique to the languages of Khoisan and other Zulu-based languages that received common usage among the soldiers that fought in the Bush War. Previously unrecognized languages, however after the end of apartheid gained the deserved recognition. The discourse community of the Bush War had its unique time where such peaceful co-existence along with the exchange of cultural words which were so common to the way of life of white and black men, simultaneously interacting in a world of prejudice outside the war environment. The interaction formed proved that such relations could be made in the direst moments of political situations, a testament to apartheid, nonetheless. The exchange of language made in the Bush War influenced the discourse community of a nation, it influenced the next generations, and it created a new value system among the youth, that stemmed from a cultural clash between popular culture and military culture.
Works Cited
Kinnear, Cameron. “South African Military Dictionary – Glossary of Military Terms.” South African Legion – United Kingdom & Europe, 13 Oct. 2020, https://www.salegion.org.uk/south-african-military-dictionary-glossary-of-military-terms/.
Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32.
Tsokodayi, Cleophas. Namibia’s Independence Struggle: The Role of the United Nations. Xlibris Corporation, 2011. pp. 1-305.
McCormick, Kay. “Afrikaans as a lingua franca in South Africa: the politics of change”, vol. 2006, no. 177, 2006, pp. 91-109. https://doi.org/10.1515/IJSL.2006.006
History.com Editors. “Domino Theory.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/domino-theory.
“South Africa Ends Conscription of Whites.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Aug. 1993, https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/25/world/south-africa-ends-conscription-of-whites.html?smid=url-share.
“BBC on This Day | 3 | 1960: Macmillan Speaks of ‘Wind of Change’ in Africa.” BBC News,
BBC, 3 Feb. 1960, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/3/newsid_2714000/2714525.stm.