Historicizing black hair politics

A framework for contextualizing race politics

Bibliographic Data

ID12912905
AuthorsSylviane Ngandu‐kalenga Greensword (0000-0001-7928-1105, Texas Christian University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume16
Issue8
Publication date2022-07-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-9020 • E-ISSN: 1751-9020
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/soc4.13015
OpenAlexW4285731553
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited78

In this article, I chronicle the ways in which Black women's hair has been used not only to exert political oppression and dominance, but also to resist alienation in the Americas. Whether covered during field labor, groomed on Saturday evenings, celebrated on Sunday, arranged as prestigious imitation in the “Big House,” braided into secret codes in Colombia, shaved as punishment, or denied all exhibition under the tignon laws in Louisiana, hair has been weaponized to control, hypersexualize, and de‐feminize Black women for centuries. More recently, there has been a resurgence of natural hairstyles, which has been abundantly documented in sociology and anthropology. However, this trend has been countered by restrictive policies that insist on standardizing Whiteness as the norm of hair structures. Drawing on studies of race and hair across multiple periods of Pan‐American history, this article argues that in more ways than one, Black hair is, and has always been, political

Alienation · Art history · Exhibition · Oppression · Political science · Politics · Race (biology · Sociology · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Gender Studies · History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Law · Race, History, and American Society

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