Decolonising my body : a radical exploration of rituals and beauty / Afua Hirsch.

  • Hirsch, Afua
Date:
2023
  • Books

About this work

Description

"The Sunday Times bestselling broadcaster takes us on a global exploration of ancestral beauty practices. Discover how modern mainstream Eurocentric beauty standards have evolved and how minoritized groups can transcend them by reclaiming their cultural roots. How do we determine what is beautiful? Whose standards are we trying to meet when we spend our hard-earned money on our haircare, skincare and makeup; where do they come from, and how can we learn to undo them? Upon getting her first tattoo at 40 years old, award-winning journalist Afua Hirsch embarked on a journey to reclaim her body from the colonial ideas of purity, adornment and ageing she - and many of us - absorbed while growing up. Informed by research from around the world, Afua will look at how individual and collective notions of what is beautiful are constructed or stripped away from us. Through personal anecdotes, interviews from beauty experts, practitioners and service users, she explores the global history of skin, hair and body modification rituals. These insights and discoveries will empower readers to reconnect with their cultures of origin, better understand the link between beauty and politics, and liberate themselves from mainstream beauty standards that aren't serving them."--From publisher.

Publication/Creation

London : Square Peg, 2023.

Physical description

216 pages : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 25 cm

Contributors

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-211).

Contents

Prologue: Enough -- Introduction: Decolonising -- 1. Blood -- 2. Beauty -- 3. Sexuality -- 4. Skin -- Epilogue: Death.

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    PQF /HIR
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9781529908664
  • 1529908663