Dark skin penalty, shame and resistance
Negotiating colourism in UK families
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2149489 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aisha Phoenix (0000-0002-9886-6288, King's College London, corresponding author), N Craddock (0000-0002-1403-9550, University of the West of England) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 4-25 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01419870.2024.2311139 |
| OpenAlex | W4391645856 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 34 |
Colourism - prejudice and discrimination penalising people with dark skin - canoccur in many social settings, including within families. Drawing on qualitativeresearch with women and men from different minoritized ethnic backgrounds in the UK, we argue that while families can be an important buffer against racism, children are often exposed to colourism by family members. Our findings, based on reflexive thematic analysis on data from 33 semi-structured interviews, highlight how families can reproduce colourism. Taking an intersectional analytical approach, we found that colourism in families is often gendered, with girls and women more affected than boys and men. We found that dark skin can be seen as negative and a potential source of familial shame. Further, colourism in families can have harmful, enduring effects on wellbeing and body image. However, we found that families can also be sites of resistance, protecting family members from colourism
Dark skin · Ethnic group · Negotiation · Prejudice (legal term · Qualitative research · Racism · Reflexivity · Resistance (ecology · Shame · Social science · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Medicine · Obesity and Health Practices · Psychology · Social Psychology
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Color in Context
Toward a Field of Intersectionality Studies
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A tale of two generations
Colourism and the Politics of Beauty
The Space Between
Yearning for Lightness
Teaching and Learning Color Consciousness in Black Families
The Development and Validation of a Colorism Scale
Black Men's Experiences of Colourism in the UK
Colorism and Physical Health
Skin Color and Colorism
What's love got to do with it
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |