Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture

Description

A Kirkus Best Book of the Year Stamped from the Beginning meets You Can't Touch My Hair in this timely and resonant essay collection from Guardian contributor and prominent BBC race correspondent Emma Dabiri, exploring the ways in which black hair has been appropriated and stigmatized throughout history, with ruminations on body politics, race, pop culture, and Dabiri’s own journey to loving her hair. Emma Dabiri can tell you the first time she chemically straightened her hair. She can describe the smell, the atmosphere of the salon, and her mix of emotions when she saw her normally kinky tresses fall down her shoulders. For as long as Emma can remember, her hair has been a source of insecurity, shame, and—from strangers and family alike—discrimination. And she is not alone. Despite increasingly liberal world views, black hair continues to be erased, appropriated, and stigmatized to the point of taboo. Through her personal and historical journey, Dabiri gleans insights into the way racism is coded in society’s perception of black hair—and how it is often used as an avenue for discrimination. Dabiri takes us from pre-colonial Africa, through the Harlem Renaissance, and into today's Natural Hair Movement, exploring everything from women's solidarity and friendship, to the criminalization of dreadlocks, to the dubious provenance of Kim Kardashian's braids. Through the lens of hair texture, Dabiri leads us on a historical and cultural investigation of the global history of racism—and her own personal journey of self-love and finally, acceptance. Deeply researched and powerfully resonant, Twisted proves that far from being only hair, black hairstyling culture can be understood as an allegory for black oppression and, ultimately, liberation.

Get the book

Amazon.com

Search the book

eBay.com

Search the book

Other editions

• 

  Twisted: A Novel

  • 2024-07-09
  • 240 pages
  • Paperback
  • Flatiron Books
• 

  Twisted: Romantic Suspense with a Twist

  • 2021-12-14
  • 255 pages
  • Ebook
  • Malachite Publishing LLC
• 

  Twisted: A Suicide Story

  • 2020-11-12
  • 60 pages
  • Ebook
  • Archway Publishing
• 

  Twisted: A Cookbook - Bold, Unserious, Delicious Food for Every...

  • 2020-09-03
  • 272 pages
  • Ebook
  • Hodder & Stoughton

Similar books

• 

  Twisted

  By Laurie Halse Anderson

  Gritty and hard hitting, this is thoughtful teen fiction at its finest.

• 

  Twisted

  By Laurie Halse Anderson

  After getting busted for doing graffiti and having to work all summer to pay for the damages, invisible Tyler's physique changes greatly and brings with it unexpected perks, including the...

• 

  Twisted

  By Laurie Halse Anderson

  "Poignant and gripping." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Once again, Anderson's taut, confident writing will cause this story to linger long after the books is set down." —SLJ A New York Times Bestseller An ALA Best Book for Young ...

• 

  Twisted

  By R. L. Stine

  As a pledge of a sorority, Abby Wallis becomes part of a prank that goes wrong.

• 

  Twisted

  By Andrea Kane

  New York Times bestselling novelist Andrea Kane leads you down a dark and twisted alleyway, littered with drugs, kidnapping, and murder.

• 

  Twisted

  By Jay R. Bonansinga

  . . Twisted In the heart of New Orleans, a serial killer is at work. While the city struggles to rebuild, he seeks only to destroy. His victims are offerings, surrounded by objects as mysterious as the French Quarter itself.

• 

  Twisted

  By Jonathan Kellerman

  Overburdened homicide detective Petra Connor joins forces with the LAPD's eccentric but brilliant intern, Isaac Gomez, to uncover a serial killer who has been stalking the streets of the city, cleverly remaining undetected for years because ...

• 

  Hard Twisted

  By C. Joseph Greaves

  The year is 1934, and as the windblown dust of the Great Depression rakes the Oklahoma plains, Palmer offers Lucile and her father, homeless and hungry, the irresistible promise of a better future.But when they follow Palmer to Texas, ...

• 

  Twisted: (new Author's Edition 2015)

  By Sue Hollister Barr

  Literate, dark humor peppers this popular tale of 60s hippies that has been selling since it was first published conventionally in 1992.

• 

  The Twisted Book of Shadows

  By Christopher Golden, James Arthur Moore

  "Within these pages you will find the beautifully weird side-by-side with terrifying nightmares, horrifying folklore, and hellish futures. Nineteen unique and haunting tales ..."--Amazon.com