Re-articulating ‘Black is Beautiful’ Through the Re-emergence and Expression of Natural Hair in the 21st Century

• In Event: Black Women Reimagined: Photos, Film, and Stage

Abstract

The mobilization of Black women in the 21st century is signaling a change in how images and identities are defined by the white gaze. No longer accepting how beauty is ascribed onto Black bodies, Black women are subverting past beauty ideals through the cultivation and styling of their own aesthetics and representation of Black beauty. Focusing on how the embodiment and assertion of Blackness is expressed through natural hair, I discuss how the growth of black consciousness in the Natural Hair Movement is cultivating transnational connections across the African diaspora.

Presenter

• Tiffany Nicole Peacock, Florida International University