Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates the evolution of folded cloth in Yoruba diasporic life/usage. I analogise folded cloth the prototypical mode of wearing cloth among the Yoruba with the complex inner wisdom of Yoruba culture the multilayered meanings of everyday attire/speech in diasporic contexts and usage

Paper long abstract:

This paper investigates the evolution of folded cloth in Yoruba diasporic life/usage. I analogise folded cloth, the prototypical mode of wearing cloth among the Yoruba, with the complex 'inner wisdom' of Yoruba culture - the multi- layered meanings of ostensibly everyday attire and speech in diasporic contexts and usage.

'Fold over folds: such is the status of the two modes of perception, or of microscopic and macroscopic processes. That is why the unfolded surface is never the opposite of the fold, but rather the movement that goes from some to the others.'

(Deleuze, Gilles)

Culture is a multi-faceted spiral, each layer revealing new perspectives even if only of apparently already known and quantified vistas, while leading gently but inexorably towards newer ideas.

Culture must contain an inherent dynamism and flexibility in order to withstand the vagaries of time, dislocations and dispossession and an ability to incorporate the natural evolution of new and/or imposed knowledge and progress.

Whether the intimate folds of an iro preparatory to its tucking in on the appropriate side, the symbolism of the act of 'setting' an agbada 'sleeve' or the origami intricacies of a gele, the Yoruba have traditionally used the art of folded cloth to express sensibilities and opposition.

How does this understanding translate in the translocation - Stories/cloth with meanings within meanings/ a need to hold on to one's heritage while participating robustly in (and possibly influencing) the aesthetic milieu to which migration has transported one.