Episode 2: Imnyama ibenomgca omhlophe

“Imnyama ibenomgca omhlophe.”In this textured episode, we are guided by uTat’ Mangaliso Jafta—community elder, social entrepreneur, and former MK operative—who walks with us through the streets of Willowvale, kuGatyana. As co-host and conversational anchor, uTat’ Jafta opens a thread that is both personal and political, inviting us to consider how dress codes such as iqhiya carry historical, social, and spiritual meaning across generations.Our inquiry begins with a simple provocation: ukhule wena kutwalwa iqhiya ezinjani? ooMama bakho, nikhule kunxitywa iqhiya ezinjani? Zibanjani? This unfolding gesture—posed to local residents—guides us into an intimate mapping of how aesthetic choices operate as embodied knowledge. Through walking, asking, watching, and listening, we encounter everyday dressers whose iqhiya styles speak to inherited practice, everyday beauty, and the quiet discipline of presence.Rather than treating iqhiya as a static cultural object, this episode positions it as a living fold—remade, resisted, reinterpreted in time. It reveals how local fashion languages are formed not only through style but through intergenerational memory, custom, and the unspoken codes of dignity and belonging. Here, fashion is not performance—it is continuity. Iqhiya is not just adornment—it is archive, instruction, and interface.For those who know: this episode was first titled iKetshemiya—a word that remains folded into the hem of this offering, not lost, but carried.What appears ordinary is layered with codes. What appears fixed, is in motion.CLOSING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSNarrating VoicesMr Mangaliso JaftaAzola KrweqeMs Nobuhle JamesMrs Nokhaya JilingisaMama PhakaniZizo NtukusheVisual & Video ContributorsAzola KrweqeSibabalwe MakeleniCommunity ContributorsThe James Family – ooXabaMrs Kutazwa JamesMrs Nokugcina James (special thanks for the recording of umsebenzi kaMnu. Luphumlo James)Mrs LudidiMs Phumla JamesMs Nobuhle JamesWillowvale Makers Co-opKholiswa MagidiTheko Theo YinindwaPhiliswa MatutuNwabisa MahlaleshushuMiranda SiwlabeniYouth ParticipantsZintle BonakeleVuyokazi MnconoLethu JilingisiNokubonga HawuLisakhanya PoniYolande TskaneLiyabona NtshobodwanaBuyiswa Beauty NduweCommunity yakuGatyanaCebisa MagoqozaMzukisi NketshuThando MadwantsiThobile TsutsuSikelela ThobigunyaNeliswa BambintalaMiranda SihlanguAnd the broader community at largeSpecial thanks to:Azola KrweqeLukhanyo MuluseLocations ReferencedWillowvale Arts Center, kuGatyaneJames Family Home – Elukhanyisweni, eQumbu, eMdeniMr & Mrs James’ Residence – Highbury, UmtataJames Residence – Walmer Road Lodge, Beacon Bay, East LondonNgumla Family Home – eGcibala, TsomoMpintsha Family Home – Nkanga, WillowvaleBuffalo City MunicipalityProduction TeamExecutive Producer: Bongani TauCurator & Editor: Siviwe JamesContent Advisor: Sihle SogaulaGraphic Design: 2DOTS Space AgencyVideo & Sound Editing: Siviwe JamesText: Siviwe JamesXhosa Language Advisor: Ms Nobuhle JamesDigital Archiving SupportArt Meets AppInstitutional SupportEastern Cape Department of Sports, Arts and CultureUN/FOLDING_RE/FOLDING_FOLDED: Imiphindo kwaXhosa © 2023 Created and produced by Siviwe James (James-Laurie) With support from the African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) and Creative Nestlings Foundation, under the New Narratives Programme (2023).Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International