Is Beauty In The Eyes Of The Colonizer?

...Noliwe Rooks is a professor at Cornell University who teaches about the politics of race and beauty. She says that women are placed in different categories depending on "how they appear in the world," and that attempts to decolonize one's beauty routine often lead to pushback from the outside world — especially for black and brown people. She cited Hampton University in Virginia as an example. The historically black institution made news in 2012 for a policy in the business school that said male students couldn't have dreadlocks, because they were considered unprofessional.

Rooks says, "If you're someone who feels like for body positivity and self affirmation, and adornment, this is what I'm going to do, 'I want dreadlocks' — yes you can do that. You can decolonize that look in the way that you feel is important to you. But you can't go to that school like it. ... Until recently you couldn't serve in the military. ... There's all manner of corporate jobs that if you're decolonizing your body you can't have."

Read the article at https://www.npr.org.

 

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