Michaela Deprince

Life seen through the eyes of minorities SPECTRUMSPECTRUM celebrating ethnic and religious minorities Michaela DePrince: NoNo black black swans swans for for ballet ballet by byAndy Andy Gorman Gorman Queer and Halal by Jasmin Ojalainen No longer a black & white world by Arnelle Paterson SPECTRUM-FinalLayout.indd 1 21/02/2016 6:50:11 p.m. Table of Contents 04 To relax or not to relax? exploring the natural hair movement 08 The art of cultural appropriation what is it and how can we avoid it? 10 Building a bridge between two hearts the pitfalls of interracial relationships 16 Queer and halal gay and muslim: when worlds collide 22 Freedom unveiled challenging stereotypes about the veil 22 No black swans for ballet the barriers of having a dark skin in classical dance 30 No longer a black and white world the changing face of society 36 Depression in South Asian cultures investigating the stigma attached to depression 40 The dark side of feminism has feminism become self serving ? 42 Does Europe belong to everyone? examining the roots of xenophobia 46 Don’t shootis black crime a myth or a reality ? 48 The western media: selectively blind why does the media cherry-pick its coverage? 2 Spectrum - March 2016 SPECTRUM-FinalLayout.indd 2 21/02/2016 6:50:11 p.m. Welcome ! Hello my lovelies! Welcome to the first edition of Spectrum Magazine. It’s only right that I introduce myself, I’m Arnelle and I’m the editor of this fabulous (as you can tell, I love to give credit when it’s due) magazine! The girls and I have been working super hard for the last six months to create something that we all feel incredibly passionate about. I’m a strong believer that passion is one of the most important fundamental entities when you decide to embark on anything new (as well as time and patience of course, the good Lord knows we needed a lot of that). We want Spectrum to be a learning experience, as well as something you can relate to. Life is all about opening your eyes to new debates, experiences, opinions and ideologies and what better place to do that than a magazine called Spectrum? Every single topic featured in this edition resonates with each and every one of us on a personal level, and we hope it does for you too. This issue features a number of topics from intercultural relationships, black crime and ballerinas to cultural appropriation, xenophobia and questioning whether there are links to behaviour and race. Open your mind and inspire positive change! Arnelle Team Arnelle Paterson Eman Al-Zubaydi Andy Gorman Editor Head of social media Head designer & subeditor Jasmin Ojalainen Leontina Postelnicu Rudina Mustafa Picture editor & subeditor Head of social media Web designer 3 Spectrum - March 2016 SPECTRUM-FinalLayout.indd 3 21/02/2016 6:50:13 p.m. To relax or not to relax? Credit: Ariel Arnelle Paterson looks at the cultural significance of chemical hair straightening and The Natural Hair Movement or many women of black descent, relaxing your hair is Many may ask why anyone would undergo such an ordeal, considered a right of passage, a transition from childhood but hair relaxing is just one of many methods used to smooth F to adolescence or adulthood, from an unruly bed of hair afro-textured hair. The only time that hair was seen as glorious to smooth, soft, free flowing silk. The underpinning rationale was during early African civilisation, it was an emblem of an behind this supposedly joyous, momentous transformation individual’s tribe, family background and social status. shouldn’t be overlooked. Black women are constantly being forced to adhere to the dominant ideology of Caucasian beauty, which quite frankly, is an outlook inundated with insecurity, sadness, ignorance and an idiotic sense of idealism. If you type ‘black hair’ A 2013 report from the International Journal of Trichology “ together with a 2012 report from specialist magazine The into Google, words such Dermatologist disclosed that hair relaxing can lead to hair thinning, scalp irritation, baldness and chemical burns to the as ‘nappy’ & ‘kinky’ scalp. Additionally, the process removes elasticity and protein appear from the hair, making it more prone to breakage, which, in „ combination with heat appliances and friction, spells a recipe By the 1700s during the transatlantic slave trade, the desire for disaster. to adhere to a quintessential Caucasian beauty ideal started to 4 Spectrum - March 2016 SPECTRUM-FinalLayout.indd 4 21/02/2016 6:50:13 p.m. manifest. Caucasian and mixed heritage hair textures were abnormal, weird, bizarre, strange and odd. American rapper considered to be more desirable. Lil Wayne even referenced black hair in his song ‘A Milli’ with After this, the hot comb arrived in America in 1880, a more the maligning comparison ‘tougher than Nigerian hair’. permanent solution in the form of the relaxer arrived in 1909. Sadly, this isn’t an issue exclusive to the Western world. In Apart from the pre-colonial Africa era, the only other Abidjan, Ivory Coast, blogger and natural hair consultant Bibi Gnagno filmed a documentary on local perceptions of natural hair. Women with afro-textured hair were met with comments such as ‘what’s wrong with you? Do you not have enough Natural hair should money to go to a salon? Did your husband leave you? Go get “ a perm’. The second concern lies within the education of black hair not be linked to as well as choice. ‘Kiddie’ relaxers are applied to children as young as three. Before a young woman has the opportunity to unprofessionalism & form an identity, to grow, understand, embrace and be able to aesthetically displeasing care of her hair, the decision to relax her hair has already been „ made for her. time period where Afro hair was celebrated was during the Poignantly, she will have no recollection of what her hair Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, a symbol of rebellion, texture actually is. empowerment, pride and an assertion of black identity. Health is incredibly important. A study from Boston The Caucasian dream of straightness reigned once again in University followed more than 23,000 pre-menopausal the form of long; straight weaves a decade later and is still African American women from 1997 until 2009 and found popular today. Black hair has never fully recovered from its that hair relaxer use and chemical exposure from scalp lesions 18th century condemnation. and burns may have a link to the increased susceptibility of Fast-forward to the present day and The Natural Hair fibroids, non-cancerous growths that develop in the womb. Movement, as predicted by cultural anthropologists, is in full The study revealed links to cancers, reproductive problems, swing. cognitive disorders, altered immune system risks and heart It could be assumed that Chris Rock’s 2009 documentary disease. ‘Good Hair’ aided in this as it highlighted black hair culture’s No woman should feel frantic at the first sight of a coil when trials and tribulations. Long, thick braids, cornrows styles and her regrowth contrasts her relaxed ends. Natural hair should short-cropped curls are in fashion. not be linked to unprofessionalism, wretchedness or deemed Many women are now transitioning to natural or texlaxed inappropriate and aesthetically displeasing. hair (this involves under processing the hair by leaving the It is important that women of black heritage embrace what relaxer on for a shorter amount of time, thus resulting in more is beautiful about their hair, the volume, the thickness and textured hair and less damage) as featured on YouTubers such the versatility. If they choose to texlax to make it a little easier as Babilon Kay, Pretty Witty 77 and Fresh Lengths. to manage, so be it. This equates to less damage and more Furthermore, in 2013, UK research company Mintel revealed volume, still preserving what is intrinsically beautiful about that hair relaxer sales in the UK have declined by 26 per cent afro-textured hair. over the past five years. It’s the only product in the black hair Wear your hair as you please, whether it’s dreadlocks, braids, market that hasn’t seen a growth since 2008. Mintel have cornrows, weaves or texlaxed. Use your hair as a form of predicted that relaxer sales are set to decline by 45 per cent expression, change it up as you feel, it’s not something that by 2019. needs to be shamed or forced into a societal box. The report also stated that sales of styling products for natural Many women feel that their locks are a representation of hair in the UK have increased because of the natural hair trend who they are. Afro-textured hair in its varying degrees has an and that 70 per cent of black women currently wear or have endearing, unshackled personality of its own. worn their hair in its natural state, with the majority opting for I confess that I’m reluctant to put chemicals in my future braids or dreadlock styles. daughter’s hair. Nevertheless, if one day she finds herself Some may argue that due to the fundamental reasoning debating whether or not to reach for the creamy crack, I’ll be behind why hair relaxing began, no one should relax their hair. able to pass on my experience and knowledge to help her to However, there are other issues that must be addressed first, make the right decision. As musician India Arie sang, ‘I am not such as the stigma attached to black hair. my hair, I am the soul that lives within’. If you type ‘black hair’ into the Google search engine, words such as ‘nappy’ and ‘kinky’ appear.

Load more