Decolonising My Body
On Ancestry, Tradition and Cultural Reinvention
(Author) Afua HirschInformed by research from around the world, Afua examines at how individual and collective notions of what is beautiful are constructed or stripped away from us. Through personal anecdotes, interviews from beauty experts, practitioners and service users, she explores the global history of skin, hair and body modification rituals and how it has affected how we see ourselves. These insights and discoveries will empower readers to reconnect with their cultures of origin, better understand the link between beauty and politics, and liberate themselves from mainstream beauty standards that aren't serving them.
Afua Hirsch
Afua Hirsch is a British writer, broadcaster, and former barrister renowned for her exploration of race, identity, and social justice. She authored the Sunday Times bestseller Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging (2018), which examines Britishness and identity. Her recent work, Decolonising My Body: A Radical Exploration of Rituals and Beauty (2023), delves into beauty, rituals, and ancestry as an approach to radical justice. Hirsch has held the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2024.
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Decolonising My Body
A radical exploration of rituals and beauty
