Here - Prince Claus Fund

from prison of Nelson Mandela and others in the early 1990s, a range of nationbuilding
projects has encouraged the emergence of new, more inclusive cultural
identities. On the other hand, local identities have also become increasingly
fragmented and more individualised. For this reason, the contemporary South
African situation evokes comparison with Appiah’s description of the postmodern/post-colonial
African polyglot whom outsiders refer to as ‘Yoruba’ –
thereby affirming their own clichéd assumptions about cultural identity – but who
no longer regards this ethnic designation as relevant to his understanding of
himself. 6
In South Africa, little, if any, attempt has thus far been made to address the
implications of this refusal to embrace ethnicity as a primary frame of selfreference.
Nor has any concerted attempt been made to explore the possible
role of individual aesthetic choice in the production of long-established art
forms like beadwork, presumably because artistic traditions like these still seem
to validate the idea that both the producers and the consumers of these craft
forms celebrate ethnicity through style: even in post-apartheid South Africa,
most local beadwork styles are still readily identifiable as ‘Xhosa’, or ‘Zulu’, or
‘Sotho’. This evidence notwithstanding, the impact globalisation and the
democratisation of South African society have had on local social relations is far
greater than it might appear at first sight. Even in some outlying rural areas,
ethnicity has become ‘conspicuously devoid of solid cultural content’. 7 In keeping
with recent observations regarding contemporary social networks in the US, it
would in fact seem that, in many cases, South Africa’s ethnic communities are
separated from one another by the same culture.
Using this idea of cultural ‘sameness’ as a point of departure, the present
discussion focuses on a number of beadwork and other garments produced in the
course of the 1990s for use on special or ritual occasions. Some of these pieces,
which are associated with initiation practices in present-day Limpopo Province,
close to South Africa’s border with Zimbabwe, are worn by girls. (figs. 1, 2 and 3).
Others, known as imithika, were collected in the Debe Nek and King Williamstown
districts in the Eastern Cape (figs. 5, 6, 7, 8). Although acquired from diviners who
dress in garments like these during their consultations with clients, in rural
Xhosa-speaking areas and in Cape Town’s historically black satellite
neighbourhoods like Langa and Khayelitsha, imithika are also worn by young male
initiates prior to leaving their homes for initiation lodges.
These beadwork garments and ‘skirts’ are all characterised by an
extraordinarily abundant incorporation of discarded plastic trinkets, broken
watches (fig. 1), small action toys (figs. 3, 4), birdcage mirrors (figs. 1 and 3), old
strips of material (figs. 5 and 6), bottle tops (fig. 7), medicine spoons (fig. 8),
cheap costume jewellery (fig. 1), and other recycled items. Richly colourful, they
sparkle against the light and jingle to the rhythm of the wearer’s body. Given both
their remarkable quality of excess, and the eclectic materials from which they
are made, they bear comparison with the glitz and glamour of famous designers
like Versace, whose fashion items were described on one occasion as ‘following
Figure 2
Apron, Limpopo Province, South Africa
45 x 49 cm, private collection, Cape Town
photo A. van Eeden
86 Prince Claus Fund Journal #10a Popular Design and Crafts