Entrenched Coloniality? Colonial-Born Black Women, Hair and Identity in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2137990 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Janell Le Roux (0000-0001-7911-9810, University of Limpopo), Toks Dele Oyedemi (University of Limpopo), Toks Oyedemi (0000-0001-7060-203X, University of Limpopo, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 200-214 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-0184 • E-ISSN: 1469-2872 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00020184.2023.2261387 |
| OpenAlex | W4387252881 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
In precolonial Africa, hair played an important role in how Africans conceptualised identity, beauty, status, spirituality and cultural pride. With the advent of slavery, colonialism and apartheid, African hair became the object of ridicule, racialisation and inferiority. The Eurocentric ideal of beauty became dominant in African women's perception of 'self' and 'identity'. For many women in apartheid South Africa, it became a way of acceptance into the European consciousness and to access social, cultural and economic privileges that colonialism and apartheid reserved for whiteness. Do the vestiges of colonial-apartheid and the Eurocentric constructs of beauty and identity persist among those who grew up and lived through apartheid now that South Africa is a free country? Through a theoretical lens of postcolonial discourse of race and identity, this study explores colonial-born Black women's (aged 47 to 83) opinions about hair and identity in post-apartheid South Africa. It seems their perceptions remain fixed in the Eurocentric standard.KEYWORDS: hairapartheidraceidentityBlack womenSouth Africa AcknowledgementsThe financial assistance of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), in collaboration with the South African Humanities Deans Association (SAHUDA) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the authors and are not to be attributed to the NIHSS and SAHUDA.Disclosure statementNo conflict of interest was declared by the authors.Additional informationNotes on contributorsJanell Le RouxJanell Le Roux holds a PhD from the University of Limpopo in South Africa and is a senior lecturer in the department of communication, media and information studies at the University of Limpopo in South Africa.Toks Dele OyedemiToks Dele Oyedemi is associated with the department of communication, media and information studies at the University of Limpopo in South Africa. He holds a PhD from the University of Massachusetts in the United States
Aesthetics · Art · Beauty · Colonialism · Identity (music · Political science · Pride · Sociology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · History · Law · South African History and Culture
Capitalism and apartheid
Unbearable Weight
Colonialism/Postcolonialism
Natural hair chronicles of black female vloggers
Decolonizing my hair, unshackling my curls
Postcolonial casualties
Black Women, Beauty, and Hair as a Matter of Being
Crowning Achievements
Hair in African Art and Culture
Changing Attitudes to 'Passing For White' in an Urban Coloured Community
Beauty as violence
Indelible apartheid
Going natural
Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality
The Roles of African Women
Consumer culture and 'black is beautiful' in apartheid South Africa and early postcolonial Kenya
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |