I Am Not My Hair

Abstract

People in society often base their identity on the way they look, modeling themselves after images seen in the media. Constructed through cultural ideals, image as identity has be­ come the basis for determining societal norms. In this research I use Black feminist theory to show how hair in the Black com­munity has become a contributing factor when determining standards of identity through image, as well as through cul­tural acceptance of what it means to be Black. Through au­toethnography I analyze the ways in which societal, cultural, gendered and media norms control race representations based on hair.