Balancing cultural, literary and financial capital in trade publishing : a case study of Tafelberg Publishers, South Africa

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Authors

Klingenberg, Jana
Le Roux, Elizabeth

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Brill Academic Publishers

Abstract

This article is an historical analysis of the changing editorial strategy of Tafelberg, a South African publisher. It aims to shed light on the culture-commerce divide in South African publishing, the changing cultural and social impact of a publisher specialising in a minority language, and the nexus of editorial philosophies, language and nationalism. The research considers Bourdieu’s (1993) conceptualisation of the fields of culture with their associated levels of symbolic, financial and cultural capital, and the notion of poles of restricted and mass production of textual products in its analysis. It was found that Tafelberg has had significant cultural impact in South Africa, particularly with its involvement in the growth of Afrikaans literature and nationalism. Tafelberg is now a smaller part of one of South Africa’s publishing giants, and they remain an important publisher of Afrikaans titles, even though their social and symbolic impact has changed.

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Keywords

Tafelberg Publishers, South Africa, Culture-commerce divide, South African publishing, Nationalism, Editorial philosophies, Language, Minority language, Afrikaans publishing, Nasionale Pers / Naspers

Sustainable Development Goals

None

Citation

Klingenberg, J. & Le Roux, E. 2024, 'Balancing cultural, literary and financial capital in trade publishing: a case study of Tafelberg Publishers, South Africa', Quaerendo, vol. 54, no. 4, doi : 10.1163/15700690-bja10020.