UWI symposium looks at the idea of beauty

Robyn Miller, Contributor

It's no secret that the skin bleaching phenomenon has taken off like wildfire in Jamaica, (or India, as writer Annie Paul will tell you), so it was not unusual that a packed house should turn out on a Friday evening to discuss the issue at length, though organiser and lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work Dr Michael Barnett, confided, "there are still people who asked, why are we doing this?"

'Notions of Beauty in Black Communities Globally: Rituals of Positive Affirmation and Denigration of the Black Body (with a special focus on notions of good hair versus bad hair and additional dialogue on skin bleaching) is indeed a mouthful, and rightfully so, as it requires extensive dialogue to understand the issues surrounding it.

The panel of guest speakers at the symposium held at the Neville Hall Lecture Theatre, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona on Friday, February 24 made a strong case for the reasons behind the phenomenon that is now threatening to further peel away our identity, as one that is rooted in slavery.

Panellist Dr Clinton Hutton focused his attention on the beauty in black women; Dr Christopher Charles, skin bleaching from a global standpoint; Annie Paul, the scourge of skin bleaching in her native India; and Dr Imani Tafari, the retention of Africaness as part of our identity.

'rituals of desecration'

Citing anecdotal evidence, Dr Hutton, who began capturing the beauty of black women through his lens in 1996, said the black woman's ideas of beauty were centred on what he described as "rituals of desecration of the black body".

A lecturer in the Department of Government at UWI, he said his interest was spawned from a tutorial he had with students on slavery and anti-slavery resistance. When ideas of beauty were brought into the discussion, one of his female students said to him, "Sir, I process my hair because my boyfriend said he would like to pass his fingers through my hair".

Ever since, he has been doing research on the black woman's notions of beauty which he traced back to slavery.

He prefaced: "If we understand the intimacy of slavery, then we can understand the psychological impact of slavery.

Coining terms for the desecration he said he saw, he explained that, "there is historical precedence for 'skin-do' and hair-do."

"The women in the great house thought the solution used to clean the floor could be used in their hair then used on their faces," he said, before breaking into a chant:

"You running

And you running

And you running away."

A few members of the audience in hushed tones finished the line with him:

"But you can't run away from

yourself."

With many people of African descent buying into the narrative 'black like sin', Dr Hutton said it was no wonder our children feel ashamed of who they are.

He said the "propaganda which started in the 1990s" by Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and other magazines gave way to young girls developing anorexia, nervosa, bulimia and other eating disorders, with terms like "Blakki Tutus, anything black nuh good, mi nuh deal wid black caaw you nuh have nutten a give me", further perpetuating this level of socialisation.

Dr Charles in his presentation told the gathering that skin bleaching was global and not only an African Pacific problem as is thought by some, as the "whites in Europe are bleaching" as well.

Again, the message was the same: "We have to understand colonisation and slavery to understand skin bleaching."

With all things African denigrated during slavery, he said blacks have been miseducated about their beauty.

skin bleaching

A lecturer of psychology at City University of New York, Dr Charles, who has conducted research on skin bleaching in Jamaica, highlighted low self-esteem as a growing part of the problem - abusive relationships, the loss of a job for a prolonged period among the reasons persons were found to bleach their skin.

He, however, cleared up any misconceptions the audience had, stating that one can have high self-regard but none for one's race.

Perhaps the most startling revelation for some was head of the Publications Department at the UWI, Annie Paul's presentation. Complete with video footage she highlighted the prevalence of skin bleaching in India, where products are sold openly on shelves and matrimonial adverts placed by parents seeking spouses for their children, blatantly state, "need not apply if you're too black".

Lecturer of gender studies at Shortwood Teachers' College, Imani Tafari built on the foundation laid by her predecessors, while urging the "decolonisation of ourselves".

He said the "propaganda which started in the 1990s" by 'Seventeen', 'Cosmopolitan' and other magazines gave way to young girls developing anorexia nervosa, bulimia and other eating disorders, with terms like "Blakki Tutus, anything black nuh, good, mi nuh deal wid black caaw you nuh have nutten a give me" further perpetuating this level of socialisation.