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Augmented Curiosities: Virtual Play in African Pasts and Futures

A virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experience in the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies

South African Fertility Doll (1999) - KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

This doll was designed and created in KwaZulu-Natal by a participant in the Rural Craft and HIV/AIDS Awareness Project - administered by ML Sultan Technikon in Durban and Middlesex University in London.

Natalia Molebatsi - NU Doctoral Student : Performance Studies

South African Fertility Doll: Literature

The craft tradition of beaded cloth doll making is predominantly practiced by rural women in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa. Zulu beadwork patterns have been analyzed as a visual language, consisting of encoded meaning and complex syntax. Present day practitioners have used the art as a “social document” to draw attention to societal inequalities and injustices such as those endured during the HIV/AIDS crisis.