Slippery stereotypes – hair and the aesthetics of race in Brazil

Abstract

Motivated by disputes between Blacks and Whites I analyze strategies to address racism in the 2010’s. A study of Black women’s hairstyles identified explicit modes of claiming race and questions if there has been a change of paradigms. Subsequent research in schools about the proper aesthetic reveals miscegenational ideals. Slips in the meanings of stereotypes display aesthetics in its performative dimensions, triggered either to exercise or confront racism. The examination of hairstyles reveals constant tension between change and permanence and a non-harmonious conviviality between racial concepts in Brazil.