May 03, 2024  
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2022-2023 Catalogue [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

AFST 30001 - The Politics of Black Hair

Course Credit: 1
(WGSS)
THE POLITICS OF BLACK HAIR This course will explore the politics of Black hair in the U.S., Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. In the (post)colonial world, afro hair has been a contested and conspicuous phenotypic marker of Blackness. Eurocentric notions of ‘good hair’ and ‘bad hair,’ which echo the white / Black racial dichotomy, fall particularly on Black women. Given the pervasiveness of anti-Black racist structures, Black women are compelled to navigate the politics of hair in schools, workplaces, and societies at large. Interdisciplinary texts will frame our examination of these issues from historical and transnational perspectives. Readings will include Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Lélia Gonzalez, and Sueli Carneiro. Prerequisite(s): AFST-10000 and a 200-level course in Africana Studies (AFST) or permission of instructor. [AH, HSS]