Our special guest Queen Nzingha lecturers, Professor Lori Tharps from Temple University Philadelphia and Professor Ayana Byrd from City College New York, will give a unique talk extracted from their book Hair Story: Untangling the roots of Black Hair. Their presentation will cover male and female African hair traditions in Africa prior to European enslavement and make connections to present day international hair politics. Here is a sample of the book, which will be on sale on the day: (NB out of respect for the African Odysseys/BFIs all day film event on Black deaths in Custody ( 12th July, 11am to 5pm) there will also be a brief presentation on Black British Female Resistance Leaders of the 1800s Extract from Hair Story: Untangling the roots of Black Hair in America In the early fifteenth century, hair functioned as a carrier of messages in most West African societies. The citizens of these societies-including the Wolof, Mende, Mandingo, and Yoruba-were the people who filled the slave ships that sailed to the New World. Within these cultures, hair was an integral part of a complex language system. Ever since African civilizations bloomed, hairstyles have been used to indicate a persons marital status, age, religion, ethnic identity, wealth, and rank within the community. In some cultures a persons surname could be ascertained simply by examining the hair because each clan had its own unique hairstyle. The hairstyle also served as an indicator (click link below for full article and other events on African history)
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 12:20:48 +0000
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