A unique study of South African propaganda photography during apartheid. Throughout the apartheid era South Africa maintained a wide-reaching propaganda apparatus. At its core was the information service that strongly capitalised on photography to visually articulate the minority regime’s racist political messages, promote Afrikaner nationalism, and consolidate white rule. By unearthing a substantial corpus of photographs that so far have been hidden in archives, this book offers a distinctive perspective on the institutional context of the regime’s photographic production and how it was tightly linked to the objective to build a white nation. Through scrutiny of the photographic material’s iconographies, its circulation in printed matters, and a comparison with works by photographers such as Margaret Bourke-White, Ernest Cole and David Goldblatt, readers gain fresh insight into the country’s visual culture of the period. Based on the ambiguity of photographs, the monograph challenges the alleged dichotomy between so-called pro- and anti-apartheid photography, highlighting how the regime was able to position photographs in the grey area of inconspicuousness. By blending photo theory and art historical analysis with historical studies, Building a White Nation will appeal to scholars and postgraduate students in cultural studies interested in photo history and theory, visual culture and art history, African studies, South African photography, Afrikaner nationalism, propaganda studies, postcolonial studies, and archive theory. Throughout the apartheid era, South Africa maintained a wide-reaching propaganda apparatus. At its core was the information service that strongly capitalised on photography to visually articulate the minority regime’s racist political messages, promote Afrikaner nationalism, and consolidate white rule. By unearthing a substantial corpus of photographs that so far have been hidden in archives, this book offers a distinctive perspective on the institutional context of the regime’s photographic production and how it was tightly linked to the objective to build a white nation. Through scrutiny of the photographic material’s iconographies, its circulation in printed matters, and a comparison with works by photographers such as Margaret Bourke-White, Ernest Cole and David Goldblatt, readers gain fresh insight into the country’s visual culture of the period. Based on the ambiguity of photographs, the monograph challenges the alleged dichotomy between so-called pro- and anti-apartheid photography, highlighting how the regime was able to position photographs in the grey area of inconspicuousness. By blending photo theory and art historical analysis with historical studies, Building a White Nation will appeal to scholars and postgraduate students in cultural studies interested in photo history and theory, visual culture and art history, African studies, South African photography, Afrikaner nationalism, propaganda studies, postcolonial studies, and archive theory. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS NOTES ON TERMINOLOGY AND FIGURES INTRODUCTION White Nation-building and the Myths of Afrikaner Nationalism Propaganda and Photography Researching Propaganda Photography and the State of the Archives I. SOUTH AFRICA’S INFORMATION SERVICE I.1. The Information Service and Photography I.2. Publications I.3. Actors in the Propaganda Machinery II. CELEBRATING THE WHITE NATION II.1. The Inauguration of the Voortrekker Monument, 1949 II.2. ‘We Build a Nation’: The Jan van Riebeeck Festival, 1952 III. H. F. VERWOERD: ‘MASTER-BUILDER’ OF THE WHITE NATION III.1. From Minister of Native Affairs to Prime Minister III.2. The Pivotal Year 1960 III.3. The Verwoerd Couple III.4. Statesman III.5. Pictorial Afterlife IV. PROPAGATING SEPARATE DEVELOPMENT IV.1. Bantu Education IV.2. The Health Care System IV.3. Ernest Cole’s House of Bondage, 1967 V. PERFORMING THE STATE V.1. The Annual Openings of Parliament V.2. The Transkei Independence Celebrations, 1976 VI. THE HENDRIK VERWOERD DAM VI.1. Symbol of Modernity and National Pride VI.2. The Dam in the Regime’s Visual Network CONCLUSION NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY Archival Sources Literature Periodicals and Newspapers Film Online Sources Email Communication and Interviews ILLUSTRATION CREDITS