The cross-cultural usage of a particular cloth type called 'blueprint' is central to South African cultural history. Known locally as seshoeshoe or isishweshwe, among many other localized names, South African blueprint originated in the Far East and East Asia. Adapted and absorbed by the West, blueprint in Africa was originally associated with trade, coercion, colonisation, Westernisation, religious conversion, and even slavery, but residing within its hues and patterns was a resonance that endured. The cloth came to reflect histories of hardship, courage, and survival, but it also conveyed...