Nicholas Hlobo Electrifies Cultural Identity in Inyoka Yobhedu

Hlobo’s works are not only titled in his native language, isiXhosa, but span the indeterminate space of identity and possibility between the Xhosa and Western Christian tradition. In exploring this liminal state of the Xhosa tradition, “Inyoka Yobhedu” compares it to that of the Israelites, further extending this analogy in light of South Africa’s history of apartheid and current struggles and historical tensions in Israel. While in the Abrahamic tradition the serpent represents both healing and deceit or temptation, in the Xhosa tradition it is a bearer of good fortune and new life.

So, too, does “Inyoka Yobhedu” stand at paradoxical and parallel historical and cultural crossroads, promising to transform their contradictions into a new, generative identity, somewhere between material creation and spiritual inspiration.