ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSNOTES ON TERMINOLOGY AND FIGURESINTRODUCTIONWhite Nation-building and the Myths of Afrikaner NationalismPropaganda and PhotographyResearching Propaganda Photography and the State of the ArchivesI. SOUTH AFRICA’S INFORMATION SERVICEI.1. The Information Service and PhotographyI.2. PublicationsI.3. Actors in the Propaganda MachineryII. CELEBRATING THE WHITE NATIONII.1. The Inauguration of the Voortrekker Monument, 1949II.2. ‘We Build a Nation’: The Jan van Riebeeck Festival, 1952III. H. F. VERWOERD: ‘MASTER-BUILDER’ OF THE WHITE NATIONIII.1. From Minister of Native Affairs to Prime MinisterIII.2. The Pivotal Year 1960III.3. The Verwoerd CoupleIII.4. StatesmanIII.5. Pictorial AfterlifeIV. PROPAGATING SEPARATE DEVELOPMENTIV.1. Bantu EducationIV.2. The Health Care SystemIV.3. Ernest Cole’s House of Bondage, 1967V. PERFORMING THE STATEV.1. The Annual Openings of ParliamentV.2. The Transkei Independence Celebrations, 1976VI. THE HENDRIK VERWOERD DAMVI.1. Symbol of Modernity and National PrideVI.2. The Dam in the Regime’s Visual NetworkCONCLUSIONNOTESBIBLIOGRAPHYArchival SourcesLiteraturePeriodicals and NewspapersFilmOnline SourcesEmail Communication and InterviewsILLUSTRATION CREDITSA 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.