fNotions o Beauty & Sexuality in Black Communities IN THE CARIBBEAN AND BEYOND VOL 14 • 2016 ISSN 0799-1401 Editor I AN B OX I LL Notions of Beauty & Sexuality in Black Communities in the Caribbean and Beyond GUEST EDITORS: Michael Barnett and Clinton Hutton IDEAZ Editor Ian Boxill Vol. 14 • 2016 ISSN 0799-1401 © 2016 by Centre for Tourism & Policy Research & Ian Boxill All rights reserved Ideaz-Institute for Intercultural and Comparative Research / Ideaz-Institut für interkulturelle und vergleichende Forschung Contact and Publisher: www.ideaz-institute.com IDEAZ–Journal Publisher: Arawak publications • Kingston, Jamaica Credits Cover photo –Courtesy of Lance Watson, photographer & Chyna Whyne, model Photos reproduced in text –Courtesy of Clinton Hutton (Figs. 2.1, 4.4, 4.5, G-1, G-2, G-5) David Barnett (Fig. 4.1) MITS, UWI (Figs. 4.2, 4.3) Lance Watson (Figs. 4.6, 4.7, G.3, G-4) Annie Paul (Figs. 6.1, 6.2, 6.3) Benjamin Asomoah (Figs. G-6, G-7) C O N T E N T S Editorial | v Acknowledgments | ix • Articles Historical Sociology of Beauty Practices: Internalized Racism, Skin Bleaching and Hair Straightening | Imani M. Tafari-Ama 1 ‘I Prefer The Fake Look’: Aesthetically Silencing and Obscuring the Presence of the Black Body | Clinton Hutton 20 Latin American Hyper-Sexualization of the Black Body: Personal Narratives of Black Female Sexuality/Beauty in Quito, Ecuador | Jean Muteba Rahier 33 The Politics of Black Hair: A Focus on Natural vs Relaxed Hair for African-Caribbean Women | Michael Barnett 69 Crossing Borders, Blurring Boundaries: Comparative Meanings of Beauty in Brazil, South Africa and Jamaica | Doreen Gordon 101 Beyond The Pale?: Skinderella Stories and Colourism in India | Annie Paul 133 • Notes on Contributors | 146 Natural Self-Images: Gallery Showcasing Hairstyles Modelled by Black Women | 147 iii Figure G-1 • Natchana Phipps iv EDITORIAL Michael Barnett & Clinton Hutton - Guest Editors - Welcome to this special issue of IDEAZ which focuses on notions of beauty and sexuality among black women in black communities in the Caribbean, the African Diaspora and beyond. The articles presented here touch on a subject area that is often considered as merely personal, but in reality is one that is very political. Notions of beauty and sexuality that exist in black communities in truth speak to the matter of identity politics – a phenomenon of great sociological, psychological and cultural significance for any society, nation, or group of people. In our opinion it is an area that warrants more attention, consideration, and introspection if meaningful human development is to take place – certainly as far as the Caribbean region is concerned. In fact we would go so far as to say that in societies where groups of people are fundamentally uncomfortable with their natural self- image, there will be impediments to meaningful development and progress for such groups and the societies they comprise. This special issue was inspired by a series of Black History month forums on notions of beauty in black communities, conceptualized by Michael Barnett and programmed by the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work, The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona and launched February 2012. The array of articles in this journal sucessfully explores and interrogates how notions of beauty and sexuality within Black communities are influenced by racialized and gendered social constructions of difference. The first article in this volume, written by Imani Tafari-Ama, a scholar who specializes in gender and development studies as well as ISSN 0799-1401 • Rastafari studies, considers the practices of skin bleaching and hair 2016 straightening among black women in general, She argues that these • practices are indicators of internalized racism and the reproduction of dominant (hegemonic) ideals of beauty. She goes further to label Vol. 14 Vol. these practices as part of a psychosis that has afflicted members of the African Diaspora resulting from a phenomenon labelled "post- traumatic slavery syndrome", described in detail by Joy DeGruy IDEAZ & Policy Research / Ian Boxill – UWI, Mona © Centre for Tourism v Editorial Leary (2005). The second article, written by political scientist and philosopher Clinton Hutton, examines the definition, construction and cultivation of the ontology of white supremacy and the considerable influence that it has had globally. It also examines how Africans in the Americas counteracted or embraced the white aesthetic construction of Blackness. The third article, written by anthropology professor Jean Rahier, examines issues of beauty and sexuality in regard to Black women in Ecuador. It first considers the persistently held stereotyped perceptions of Black women in Ecuador as hyper-sexualized beings; and then how Ecuadorian Black women perceive themselves in terms of the dynamics of beauty and sexuality, on a case study basis. Next, sociology lecturer Michael Barnett considers the factors that influence African Caribbean women, and women in the Americas in general, to alter their natural hair, either chemically or otherwise. Additionally, this article considers why some women of African descent choose to wear their hair with its natural texture. Anthropology lecturer Doreen Gordon considers the comparative meanings of beauty among upwardly mobile Black people in Brazil and Jamaica. In this fifth article, the main argument is that con- sumption around beauty is one way in which emerging black elites assert their belonging as equal citizens in the respective nations. Finally, Annie Paul, Publications Officer, SALISES, UWI, examines the pervasiveness of skin bleaching amongst Indians in India. The article highlights the significant consumption of skin bleaching products by both men and women in India. The author argues that the consumption of skin lightening products in India is boosted by the large volume of advertisements that are aired or appear on various media, such as television, magazines and social media platforms. As mentioned before, we feel that the politics of beauty and sexuality is not something that should be taken lightly. How beauty is defined, shaped and deployed in black communities, and how it is promoted and in many cases denigrated must be critically analysed if issues related to identity complexes, self-esteem problems and insecurities are to be overcome. vi acknowledgments The editors would like to express special thanks to the Office of the Principal and the Special New Initiative Grant Committee of the University of the West Indies, Mona for providing the necessary funds to produce this groundbreaking special issue of IDEAZ. We would also like to thank the Florida International University Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (FIU LACC) not only for providing support for this special issue by facilitating access to essential library materials and affording office space and the provision of stationery during the process of preparing this volume, but also for facilitating the contribution to this volume of a fascinating article from affiliated faculty member, Professor Jean Rahier, Director of the African and African Diaspora Studies Program at FIU. In addition, we would like to extend special thanks to our editorial assistant and image consultant for this special issue of IDEAZ, Ms Kadine Ferguson. She played a major supportive role in the pre-production process of this special issue. Not least, we offer heartfelt gratitude to the models, photogra- phers and illustrators for their important contribution to this issue. vii Figure G-2 • Hadeikaye Williams viii HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY OF BEAUTY PRACTICES Internalized Racism, Skin Bleaching and Hair Straightening IMANI M. TAFARI-AMA Abstract This article examines the practices of skin bleaching and hair straightening in order to explore the extent to which Africans (among other postcolonials) have internalized the dominant racist discourses informing popular notions of beauty and sexual desirability. The argument demonstrates that Afrikans who have experienced intergenerational, white supremacist conditioning, have come to reject all things Afrikan as denoted by the proverb which advocates that "anything too black nuh good". Skin bleaching and hair straightening are thus narratives indicative of self-hate. These performances of chemical self-transformation attest to the hegemonic complicity of victims of oppression with their own self- erasure. Key words • Hair straightening • Skin bleaching • Self-hate • White supremacist conditioning UNHEALTHY BEHAVIOURS he twin practices of skin bleaching and hair straightening (1–19) Tare present-day indicators of the internalization and reproduction by Afrikan people – on the Continent and in the Diaspora – of racialized notions of embodied aesthetics, which are anchored in sexual and social meanings that are white defined and designed to reproduce white supremacist narratives of ISSN 0799-1401 • power and self-identity politics. According to Cheryl Thompson 2016 (2009), “Today, it is estimated that 70% to 80% of black women • chemically straighten their hair. In the 1980s, weaves raised the black beauty bar even higher to hair that is not just straight, Vol. 14 Vol. but also very long.” Similarly, skin bleaching is rampant as an embodied performance of internalized racism (Tafari-Ama, 2006). IDEAZ © Centre for Tourism & Policy Research / Ian Boxill – UWI, Mona © Centre for Tourism 1 2 • Imani M. Tafari-Ama More and more... Black women are bleaching their skin... in a bizarre attempt