Black hair culture, politics and change

Hair It Is: Examining the Experiences of Black Women with Natural Hair

“…To understand the centrality of hair to African people one must do so through the lens of an African worldview and cosmology, only then will the full scope of its importance be thoroughly understood. Throughout the ages, from the Ancient Nile Valley civilizations to the movement West and the establishment of Western African empires, hair has maintained a spiritual, social, cultural and aesthetic significance in the lives of African people [2,7]. Historically, hair has held significant roles in traditional African societies, including being a part of the language and communication system.…”

“…This meaning is both deep and wide; in other words, hair may have spiritual and religious connotations. It may play an essential socio-cultural role [1][2][3][4][5] and at other times its meaning may serve as a method of self-expression [6][7][8]. Practitioners working with women and girls of African descent, who intend to have a culturally responsive relationship based on respect and value, must understand that part of getting to know their client/student may mean exploring the meaning of hair to the individuals they serve.…”

Development of a culturally informed protocol for hair cortisol sampling in Black women

“…Before beginning this project we identified, based on the existing literature (Dash, ; Gathers & Mahan, ; Jones et al, ; Robinson, ) and prior research experience (Neal‐Barnett, Statom, & Stadulis, ), that four factors might be barriers to sampling for Black women: (a) concern for increased hair damage and loss, (b) styling that makes hair less accessible, (c) cultural and personal meanings of hair, and (d) concern for misuse of hair samples by researchers.…”

Editorial

“…The politics of learner identity, agency and subjectivity, brought to the fore by Goldsmith's investigations into contemporary art and pedagogies in the classroom, continues in their recent work in the journal (Atkinson 2008;Dash 2007;Herne et al 2008;Adams 2007). Ethnographic research methods have underpinned much of their work: Herne in his work on diverse communities of practice and young children's education (Herne & McLaren 2007), and Dash through his work on globalisation and diversity, particularly black and mixed race children's experiences of education (Dash 2005(Dash , 2006(Dash , 2007; similarly Page has used visual ethnographic methods to explore the work of children in remote educational settings, analysed by phenomenological theories of place and space (Page 2007).…”