Untangling the Knots

Untangling the Knots. This work is a product of my Masters Thesis Research. I was involved in a South African Netherlands Program for Alternatives in Development (SANPAD) research project. This project aimed to critically engage the role of popular culture in influencing youth cultures. Within this framework, I chose to do research on constructions of beauty as they are articulated through the politics of hair. I wanted to use the politics of hair as a lens into reading bodily performances, which negotiate political constructions of class, race and gender. By using hair and the constructions of beauty, as a lens, I intended on critically addressing contemporary cultural constructions of femininity as embedded in discourses of popular culture. I focused on young black middle class women located in a post-Apartheid context. I argue that their post- Apartheid locations position these women in critical relationship to the dynamic meanings of class and race in which I am interested, providing nuanced ways of deconstructing understandings of gendered subjectivities.

Autorentext

Mazuba N. Haanyama, MA en Ciencias Sociales, Estudios de Género en el Instituto Africano de Género, Universidad de Ciudad del Cabo. Licenciada en Ciencias Sociales, especialización en Ciencias Políticas y Estudios de Género, Universidad de Ciudad del Cabo. Cargo actual: Asociado de programa en el Programa de VIH y SIDA, OSISA (Iniciativa de Sociedad Abierta para África Austral).