Trauma, Tresses, and Truth, Lyzette Wanzer
Trauma, Tresses, and Truth, Lyzette Wanzer
22 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Trauma, Tresses, and Truth
Untangling Our Hair Through Personal Narratives

Author: Lyzette Wanzer

Narrator: L. Malaika Cooper

Unabridged: 10 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/20/2022


Synopsis

Black women continue to have a complex and convoluted relationship with their hair.

From grammar and high schools to corporate boardrooms and military squadrons, Black and Afro Latina natural hair continues to confound, transfix, and enrage members of White American society. Why, in 2022, is this still the case? Why have we not moved beyond that perennial racist emblem? And why are women so disproportionately affected?

Why does our hair become most palatable when it capitulates, and has been subjugated, to resemble Caucasian features as closely as possible? Who or what is responsible for the web of supervision and surveillance of our hair? Who in our society gets to author the prevailing constitution of professional appearance?

Particularly relevant during this time of emboldened White supremacy, racism, and provocative othering, this work explores how writing about one of the still-remaining systemic biases in schools, academia, and corporate America might lead to greater understanding and respect.

About Lyzette Wanzer

Lyzette Wanzer is a writer, editor, and workshop instructor. Her work has appeared in more than twenty-five journals, magazines, and books. She has presented her work at conferences across the country. Wanzer is a contributor to The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays and Lyric Essay as Resistance: Truth from the Margins. She lives in San Francisco.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mary on October 17, 2022

What an idea, for such a book!!! With care, passion, honesty, and insightfulness, Trauma, Tresses, and Truth take readers on a beautiful journey about Black women's hair. A mystery for all the rest of us, but how many stories behind it! Each chapter in this thought-provoking and at times heartbreaki......more

Goodreads review by Lourdes on April 15, 2023

Amazing! Thank you, thank you so very much! I feel heard. I knew I wasn’t alone but reading Trauma, Tresses and Truth just confirmed it for me. It’s a must read for everyone.......more

Goodreads review by Amber on July 06, 2024

This collection of personal narratives, all of which were crushingly honest and emotionally raw, brings up much needed discussions around Black hair, particularly Black women’s hair, and the prejudices and racism faced in school, in society, at work, in the military, and at home. This is one of the m......more