Team Straight vs. Team Curly: Who is really black? Marleen Bakker 10588213 Supervisor: Jan Rath Second reader: Olga Sezneva Master Thesis Sociology- Migration & Ethnic Studies [email protected] 20/08/2018 Team Straight vs. Team Curly: Who is really black? Master Thesis Sociology- Migration & Ethnic Studies Research project: Urban Scene Investigation Date: 20/08/2018 Marleen Bakker- 10588213 Supervisor: J. Rath Second reader: O. Sezneva Word count: 15650 2 Acknowledgement This master thesis research has challenged me on a mental level. I faced times of insecurity, but eventually, this only developed me in a good way. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Jan Rath, who guided me through this research process with care, and second reader Olga Sezneva, who provided me great advice to improve this master thesis. Furthermore, I would like to thank my colleagues of the thesis group Urban Scene Investigation, who have been supportive through the last months. Lastly, I would like to thank my friends and family, who helped me in times of need. 3 Table of contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 5 2. Theoretical framework ................................................................................................................................. 7 Blackness ............................................................................................................................................................ 7 Who has black hair & who has not? ................................................................................................................... 8 The straighter, the better.................................................................................................................................... 8 The natural hair movement: Hair as a means of symbolic expression ............................................................... 9 Beauty ideals ..................................................................................................................................................... 11 Identity: the self and the other ......................................................................................................................... 12 Identity-making & Belonging ............................................................................................................................ 14 Focus ................................................................................................................................................................. 15 3. Racial context of the Netherlands .............................................................................................................. 16 4. Methods ..................................................................................................................................................... 18 Empirical observations ...................................................................................................................................... 18 Interviews ......................................................................................................................................................... 19 Analysis ............................................................................................................................................................. 20 Position in the field ........................................................................................................................................... 20 Limitations ........................................................................................................................................................ 21 5. Findings ...................................................................................................................................................... 22 5.1 Growing up with chemicals ......................................................................................................................... 22 Straight hair is more practical ....................................................................................................... 23 Social pressures ............................................................................................................................. 23 An individual choice....................................................................................................................... 25 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 26 5.2 Narratives of Naturalista’s .......................................................................................................................... 26 Growing up naturally: We didn’t know better .............................................................................. 26 Transition decision ........................................................................................................................ 29 Online support ............................................................................................................................... 31 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 32 5.3 The natural hair movement: What has blackness to do with curly hair? ................................................... 33 Natural hair as a reflection of the authentic self .......................................................................... 33 Natural hair is just hair .................................................................................................................. 36 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 37 6. Discussion & conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 39 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................... 42 Appendix ........................................................................................................................................................ 45 4 1. Introduction In May this year, a Dutch television program called Bubbels & Gloss caused a lot of commotion because of a racist comment made by one of the hosts and well-known hairdresser Ad Peters. In this particular episode of the lifestyle program, six white people sat around the table to discuss topics such as beauty and fashion while drinking glasses of champagne. They talked about the hair of a white model, who would have extremely curly hair after washing it with water. It would look almost ‘Negroid’, according to another guest and fellow hairdresser Mirande Bakker. Peters continued by saying that having this type of curly hair is not something to be happy about, because you cannot do anything with it in terms of styling. Therefore, he claimed that it is important to give curly haired people good advice about which products to use, because of course, these people too want to change their hair from time to time and nobody wants to look like a ‘bush negro’ all the time. The other host and guests laughed about it1. Just a few minutes after the broadcast, Ashaki Leito was the first who publicly criticized the comments which were made by Peters. As one of the founders of the Miss Black Hair NL contest, Leito posted the particular video fragment of Bubbels & Gloss on the Facebook wall of Miss Black Hair NL, with her critical reaction attached2. Here, she described Peters’ comments as racist and denigrating towards people with black hair. She also expressed her shock that these kind of situations still occur in 2018, and above all, that the fragment was actually approved by the editors. This shows how racism is still a ‘structural problem’ in the Netherlands, according to Leito. Therefore, organizations such as Miss Black Hair NL are needed, she claimed. ‘Miss Black Hair NL shows that our hair is not unmanageable. It is beautiful and diverse, just like the people who wear this hair. By means of our hair, we show our pride on our African heritage. We are Black and we are proud!!! We won’t let anybody tell us that it is not. As an act of resistance, a lot of black women wrote bad reviews about the hairdressing company of Ad Peters. Peters himself responded with a simple apology, by clarifying that he did not mean to harm anyone and that his comment was not meant to be racist. Peters’ comments represent the idea of black hair as unmanageable and not beautiful. 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fIz0lfjWjk Miss Black Hair NL, 10 May 2018 (03/07/2018) 2 https://www.facebook.com/missblackhairnederland/ Miss Black Hair NL, 10 May 2018 (03/07/2018) 5 Through using the right haircare products, this can be fixed, he claimed. The result of using these products would be a manageable and neat hairdo, which would change the look from a ‘bush negro’ towards a more desired European appearance. However, this way of thinking is not new, but is rather historically charged, as I will show later in this research. By focusing on black haired women’s choices for particular hairstyles, I will demonstrate how these relate to the women’s ethnic identity, in a society where they are ethnically