The social semiotics of hair: re-constructing cape coloured South African female identities- the transition
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Date
2022
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Cape Coloured women have been misrepresented and misunderstood for generations as a result of apartheid and the deeply rooted ideologies at play during that time. The Coloured body was subjected to the colonial ideals of the time and these strained standards had adverse effects on the relationships these women had with their identity wrapped up in their hair. The aim of this study is to highlight the effects apartheid beauty norms had on their identity, to showcase the narrowed view of the media and their ill representation of Coloured women and their hair by providing Coloured women with an outlet to retell their hair stories of transitioning from the ridged colonial past into a decolonized present and future. Through the methodological approach of the Narrative inquiry, data was collected through interviews. Further data was collected via Media and Social Media platforms. The theoretical framework of Critical Multisemiotic/Multimodal Discourse Analysis was used to unpack and analyse the data alongside Analytical frameworks of identity. The major findings suggest that through transitioning back to natural hair, Coloured women are restoring relationships with their hair and as a result now have the ability to re-construct their identity through decolonizing their hair. It is concluded that identity is a complex and fluid entity that can be presented and represented in various spheres of being including that of hair. Hair is a marker of identity, a form of expression that, for women in this case, is a complex factor of their identity and no matter how you may phrase it, as a result of the wretched past, hair unfortunately is not �just� hair.
Description
Magister Artium - MA
Keywords
Hair, Identity, Women, Transition, Cape Coloured