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Start giftingTrauma, Tresses, and Truth
Untangling Our Hair Through Personal Narratives
Narrator
L. Malaika Cooper
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Length
10 hours 5 minutes
Language
English
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.
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.
L. Malaika Cooper is a writer, travel professional, and occasional comic. She is also an avid hiker and yogi and has traveled to more than thirty countries. A journalist by vocation, she has written for major publications. Her short stories have been published in various anthologies, and she is currently working on an urban fantasy trilogy. Cooper has performed improv and is studying dialect and voice acting. A Washington DC native, she presently lives in Houston, Texas.
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