Black Women's Beautification Practices in South African Press Reports
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COPYRIGHT AND CITATION CONSIDERATIONS FOR THIS THESIS/ DISSERTATION o Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. o NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. o ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. How to cite this thesis Surname, Initial(s). (2012) Title of the thesis or dissertation. PhD. (Chemistry)/ M.Sc. (Physics)/ M.A. (Philosophy)/M.Com. (Finance) etc. [Unpublished]: University of Johannesburg. Retrieved from: https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Index?site_name=Research%20Output (Accessed: Date). BLACK WOMEN’S BEAUTIFICATION PRACTICES IN SOUTH AFRICAN PRESS REPORTS: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS By SAMUKELISIWE NOSIPHO MTHEMBU MA MINOR DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS In CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY In the FACULTY OF HUMANITIES At the UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG SUPERVISOR: DR. P. MOODLEY Submission date: December 2017 Acknowledgements To my supervisor, Dr P. Moodley, thank you for letting me share in your wisdom and stature; may this body of work attest to the precision of your guidance. To my family, Mom, I am forever indebted to your patience and motivation; Dad, your dedication and time given to my existence will never be forgotten; sisters, resilience and love are key in the face of adversity. To my friends, thank you for all the help and support when I felt like giving up. To my partner, Dimitris, in the hardships we face, may you continue to support me and learn as we grow together. iii Abstract Eurocentric discourses of beauty have been historically dominant in South African society. As a result, phenotypical features (darker skin tone, fuller lips, and unstraightened hair) typical to Black women have been devalued. Thus, Black women are inclined to pursue dominant beauty ideals by practising extreme (invasive but not surgical) beauty-modification techniques (such as chemical skin bleaching and strenuous hair straightening). Although academic enquiry has examined effects of dominant beauty ideals on Black women, little analysis has been directed at how these ideals are reproduced in South African media, particularly in newspapers. Moreover, even less academic attention has focused on beautification practices by Black women in South African newspapers. Newspapers as a genre, might be expected to offer both criticisms and appraisals of black beauty and beautification practices. Located within social psychology, this study adopted a discursive approach to investigate representations of Black women's beautification practices in South African newspapers (1994 to 2015). In the eight newspaper reports analysed, the following discourses were identified: Commercialisation, Chemical Opportunity versus Chemical Harm, Empowerment, and Activism. Within these discourses, Black women were positioned along three subject positions: The Empowered Black Woman, The Alchemist, and The Activist. From the discourses and subject positions, a key finding was that Black women are constructed as actively engaging in beautification that achieves artificial beauty equivalent to a standard of Eurocentric beauty ideals. This was represented as a way for Black women to feel empowered and to be recognised. This was also represented as devaluing and physically harmful to the features natural to Black women. Keywords: beautification practices, black beauty, discourse analysis, Eurocentric, media representations, social psychology iv TABLE OF CONTENTS AFFIDAVIT ...................................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................ III ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... IV TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................. V CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 A Self-Reflexive Background ....................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Rationale and Context for Study ................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Beautification: A Psychological Focus ......................................................................................... 3 1.4 Media and Black Beauty ............................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Research Questions ....................................................................................................................... 5 1.6 Outline of Chapters ....................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 6 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Black Beauty in Ancient History: 3600BC to 500AD .................................................................. 6 2.3 Black Beauty in the Precolonial Period: Postclassical Era (500CE–1500) to Early Modern Period (1500–1750) ...................................................................................................................... 7 2.4 Beauty in the Colonial Period ....................................................................................................... 9 2.4.1 Midmodern Period (1750–1914) to Contemporary Period (1914–present) ............................... 9 2.4.2 Black Human Zoos ................................................................................................................... 11 2.4.3 The End of Slavery and Colonisation ....................................................................................... 11 2.5 Transitioning Black Bodies: A Psychological Focus.................................................................. 13 2.5.1 Being-in-the-world-with-objects-and-things: The Perspective of Manganyi ........................... 13 2.5.2 Nigrescence Model: The Perspective of Cross ......................................................................... 14 2.6 Black Beautification.................................................................................................................... 15 2.6.1 Hair and Skin Transitioning: Ethnic to International Aesthetics .............................................. 15 2.6.2 The Hot Comb and Other Thermal Straighteners ..................................................................... 16 2.6.3 The Chemical Hair Straightener (Relaxer) ............................................................................... 17 2.6.4 Skin Bleaching .......................................................................................................................... 17 2.6.5 Beautification in Black Consciousness ..................................................................................... 18 2.6.6 The Weave and Hair Extensions .............................................................................................. 19 2.6.7 Black Women’s Beautification in SA ...................................................................................... 19 v 2.6.8 Empowerment in Beautification ............................................................................................... 20 2.6.9 Critique of Beautification ......................................................................................................... 21 2.6.9.1 Dominant Discourses and Low Self-Image ........................................................................... 21 2.6.9.2 Social Psychology and Colourism ......................................................................................... 23 2.6.9.3 Advocacy Within Black Womanhood.................................................................................... 24 2.6.9.3.1 Internalising Dominant Social Discourses .......................................................................... 24 2.6.9.3.2 Preparing an Image Accepted by Dominant Narratives ..................................................... 25 2.6.9.3.3 Preparing an Image That Promotes Self-Awareness .......................................................... 26 2.7 Research into Black Beautification Practices ............................................................................. 27 2.7.1 African American Research on Black Women’s Beautification .............................................. 27 2.7.2 South African Studies of Hair Beautification ........................................................................... 27 2.8 Beautification and the Media ...................................................................................................... 30 2.8.1 The Role of Media Representations ......................................................................................... 30 2.8.2 Beautification and the South African Media ...........................................................................