Twisted, Emma Dabiri
Twisted, Emma Dabiri
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Twisted
The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture

Author: Emma Dabiri

Narrator: Emma Dabiri

Unabridged: 7 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 06/23/2020


Synopsis

From Guardian contributor and prominent BBC race correspondent Emma Dabiri comes a timely and resonant essay collection 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.

About Emma Dabiri

Emma Dabiri is a regular presenter on BBC and contributor for The Guardian. She is a teaching fellow in the Africa department at SOAS and a Visual Sociology PhD researcher at Goldsmiths. Her writing has been published in a number of anthologies, academic journals, and the national press. She lives in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bookishrealm on August 22, 2020

4.5 Stars. What a powerful book! I mean if you know anything about the Black hair experience than you know how phenomenal this book is Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture is Emma Dabiri's take and insight to the complex world that is Black hair. This book not only focuses on her own pe......more

Goodreads review by Mandy on June 11, 2019

Intelligent, thoughtful and thought-provoking, I found this a truly riveting read. It’s an exploration of black women’s (mainly) hair and for me it was jaw-dropping and eye-opening (to mix metaphors) at the same time. I never realised that hair could be such a complex, multi-layered and political su......more

Goodreads review by BookOfCinz on August 19, 2020

As a young child, I spent long hours on the floor wedged between the strong legs of strangers, my head cradled in their lap. These early childhood memories are vague in detail but strong in atmosphere. Emma Dabiri left no stones unturned with regards to the history of Black Hair culture and how it......more

Goodreads review by Aoife on June 11, 2020

KNOWLEDGE!! What a fantastic book that is so eye-opening and captivating, and so, so well put together. The way Emma Dabiri has managed to write a book that is themed around hair -specifically hair of a black woman - and connect it to so many issues today such as racism of old, systematic racism now,......more

Goodreads review by Mara on February 13, 2022

I was not expecting this to be both a cultural history of a beauty object standard (e.g. hair) and a history of ideas! This book wove in various African philosophical traditions around time, community, work, and so many other things in contrast to how European culture views those things, and then sy......more