What is it about?
Black women especially those in the developing world often spend a lot of money on hair extensions and makeup. Sometimes they question whether such things are really necessary for fulfillment in this present globalised world. This paper dwells on this among other questions. It does this using the novel Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to relate this with imperial, eurocentric thought as well as Afrocentric postcolonial ideas. It concludes that it is only when a black woman is proud of her natural beauty and does not feel the compulsion to change everything about this nature that she can be fulfilled.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
In recent times, self-realization and fulfillment are beginning to gain significance in the expression of self of non-western people. Additionally, more demands are made on the woman, both white and especially black woman to conform to beauty standards created by the fashion industry. This paper is an attempt to broaden the discourse on that as well as make visible the choice and coercion involved in this practice.
Perspectives
Beauty practices and the coerciveness associated with it in society is an ongoing discourse which seems to be fading and has to be recharged especially with regard to the black woman.
Dina Yerima
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Regimentation or Hybridity? Western Beauty Practices by Black Women in Adichie’s Americanah, Journal of Black Studies, June 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0021934717712711.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
