This thesis argues that through an examination of the variable market successes of Fashion Fair Cosmetics and Fenty Beauty, racial and gender intersectionality continues to negatively impact the experience of black beauty consumers in the US today. Through influential black feminists, including media theorist bell hooks, and critical race and gender theorists Kimberlee Crenshaw, and Patricia Hill Collins, this paper will discuss how black women historically and presently have been marginalized in relation to the needs and interests of white women. Drawing on the notable anthropologist Soyini Madison’s Critical Ethnography: Method, Ethics, and Performance (2022), I utilize a critical ethnography to analyze how one’s racial and gendered background can affect the relationship between beauty brands and consumers and how this impacts the experience of black and brown women as beauty consumers. This paper will also engage with the rise of historic and contemporary social justice activism and current Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs in the wake of Black Lives Matter Movement and the impact that this has had not only on industries but on the experience of black and brown cosmetics consumers. In addition, this paper will note how a speedy and superficial increase in DEI programs across service industries and cosmetics has led to a shallow understanding of the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in all spaces. Lastly, I will deploy an autoethnographic approach to discuss how social media has strongly impacted and influenced the industry Fashion Fair is relaunching in. The autoethnography will discuss the social media strategies that drive a successful makeup brand in the contemporary beauty industry and, importantly, how contemporary consumers of color experience the beauty industry. This paper will close by speculating on the manner in which the legacy brand Fashion Fair, might in the current practice of Fenty, sharpen its appeal and engage the kind of social media strategies that will successfully reintroduce the brand to a new generation—and thereby more successfully resume its mission to deliver care to long-alienated beauty consumers in the US. / Media Studies & Production

This thesis investigates possibilities for developing an archiving praxis to help Black trans people live. Inspired by recent Black trans thinking and creativity, the research here centres conversations with five Experts working in a range of academic, artistic, and activist archiving practices. The analysis of these conversations focuses on three areas which guide the investigative chapters, motivations for working with archives, encounters with archives and possibilities for developing a praxis to help us live. The need for this work is shaped by the specificity of blackness and transness in the racial capitalism of the West, the writing is framed by the specificity of producing work at and for Uppsala University whose archives house state records of eugenics and racial science.  Looking to how archives shape bodies and how bodies shape archives, the methodologies guiding this work give space for the writing of this thesis to become an archival experiment. Considering and attending to powers of affect and care shapes this thesis as an embodied exploration, a practice manifesting in the work to further inform the praxis that the thesis investigates. Voices from Black feminist thought, Black cultural theory, queer of colour critique and Black trans cultural production and/as knowledge guide this analysis and offer points of reflection for the conversations with the Experts and my own experiences unfolding in the archive.  The thesis evidences possibilities for developing an archiving praxis to help Black trans people live. The analysis also points to capacious and expansive temporalities for this archival praxis. The thesis concludes that there is a need for more time, more voices and more listening to develop this praxis and further explore possibilities that open up with questioning temporalities. Perhaps that work starts in the space where the conclusion of this thesis, this archive, arrives; starts with asking when does the archive happen.

The intent of this paper is to explore a black feminist perspective within the film horror genre. A black feminist perspective investigates how black women are portrayed within cinematic horror. It serves as a method to further articulate the particularities of race & gender within cinema. If we leave the cinematic space without a structural model of intervention, then we are left with film that remains unchallenged for ostracizing black women. The paper argues that black women become articulated through themes of motherhood, death, and sexuality.

No description available.

No description available.

Faced with a unique oppression due to their racial and gender identity, a great disservice has been done to Black female athletes (BFAs) within the sporting literature as they have historically been silenced and rendered invisible, either in failure to include them in research, or in fragmenting their identities along racial or gender lines, thus presenting incomplete and inaccurate representations of their experiences. Employing a theoretical framework grounded in Black feminist standpoint theory, this study explored BFAs’ conceptualizations of femininity and microaggressions, as well as how their racial, gender, class, and athletic identities affect them within and outside of sporting environments. This study sought BFAs at 83 Division I institutions, asking them to complete a survey including the Bem Sex Role Inventory-Short (BSRI-S), the Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (REMS), and the Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale (BRIAS). Six BFAs opted-in to a qualitative interview. These BFAs presented multiple interpretations of femininity, discussed experiences with microaggressions, and spoke to how they navigated various contexts given their racial, gender, and athletic identities. While identifying hardships of being BFAs on college campuses and Black women in the United States, interview participants also discussed how their ability to withstand the unique mistreatment of BFAs and Black women left them feeling empowered and resilient. Implications for practitioners and researchers are also included. / Kinesiology

Feminist scholars define rape culture as an environment that is conducive to the occurrence of rape, due to an acceptance of sexual objectification, double standards, strict adherence to traditional gender norms, and victim blaming. They argue rape culture as a definitive feature of US society. The structural forces of racism and classism, negatively impact urban areas, increasing the likelihood of violence. This includes the spectrum of sexual violence. While community centers are regarded as key social resources that help urban youth navigate the social landscape of violence, little has been said about how they respond to rape culture in particular. Employing ethnographic methods, this dissertation investigated a summer camp within a community center in the Bronx, and the everyday ways that five women of color (18-26) taught a public pedagogy of gender and sexuality. Nine weeks were spent observing women in the field; in a one year-follow up, additional interviews and observations were made outside the camp setting. Supplemental data were collected from women of color in various community centers in urban areas. This study found that given the othermother/othersister relationships that the women developed with their teen campers, they were able to detect sexual activity and trauma. In turn, they employed a public pedagogy, which offered lessons of `passive protection' and `active preparation.' This study offers implications for training and programming regarding the resistance of rape culture, and policy and legislation to regulate it within community centers. / Urban Education

The United States and South Africa, exemplars of "archsegregation," have been constituted within an arc of historical racialized delineations which began with the centering, and subsequent overrepresentation, of European maleness and whiteness as the sole definition of Man. Globally present and persistent, these racialized delineations have been localized and spatially embedded through the tools of urban planning. This arc of racialized otherness, ineffectively erased, continues to inform the racially differentiated geospatial, health, social, and economic outcomes in contemporary urban form and functions for Black communities. It is within this historical arc, and against these differentiated outcomes, that contemporary urban discourse and contestation between individuals and institutions are situated. This historical othering provides not just a racialized geo-historical contextualization, but also works to preclude the recognition of the some of the most vulnerable urban community members. As urbanists and advocates strive to co-create urban space and place with municipalities, meeting the needs of these residents is imperative. In order to meet these needs, their lived experiences, and voices must be fully recognized and engaged in the processes and programs of urban co-creation, including in digital spaces and forums. Critical to achieving recognition acknowledging and situating contemporary digital discourses between local municipalities, Black residents, and Black networks within this historically racialized arc is necessary. In doing so, explore if, and how, race, specifically Blackness, is enacted in municipal digital discourse, whether these enactments serve to advance or impede resident recognition and participation, and how Black users, as residents and social network curators, engage and respond to these municipal discursive enactments. This exploratory research is a geographically and digitally multi-sited incorporated comparison of Chicago, Illinois, and Johannesburg South Africa. Using Twitter and ethnographic data collected between December 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, this research layers digital ethnographic mixed methods and qualitive mixed methods, including traditional ethnographic, digital ethnographic, grounded theory, social change and discourse analysis, and frame analysis to explore three research goals. First, explore the digital discursive practices and frames employed by municipalities to inform, communicate with, and engage Black communities, and, if and how, these frames are situated within a historically racialized arc. Second, identify the ways in which Black residents, in dual discursive engagements with local municipalities and their own social networks, interact and engage with the municipal frames centering on Blackness. Third, through ethnographic narratives, acknowledge the marginalized residents of the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa as "agents of knowledge," with critical and valuable knowledge claims which arise from their lived experiences anchored within racialized place and space. In doing so, support the efforts of these residents in recentering the validity of their knowledge claims in the co-creation of urban place and space. Additionally, in situating the city within a historically racialized arc develop novel frameworks, the racialized palimpsest city and syndemic segregation, through which to explore contemporary urban interactions and engagements. / Doctor of Philosophy / The United States and South Africa, exemplars of "archsegregation," have been constituted within an arc of historical racialized delineations which began with the centering, and subsequent overrepresentation, of European maleness and whiteness as the sole definition of Man. Globally present and persistent, these racialized delineations have been localized and spatially embedded through the tools of urban planning. This arc of racialized otherness, ineffectively erased, continues to inform the racially differentiated geospatial, health, social, and economic outcomes in contemporary urban form and functions for Black communities. It is within this historical arc, and against these differentiated outcomes, that contemporary urban discourse and contestation between individuals and institutions are situated. This historical othering provides not just a racialized geo-historical contextualization, but also works to preclude the recognition of the some of the most vulnerable urban community members. As urbanists and advocates strive to co-create urban space and place with municipalities, meeting the needs of these residents is imperative. In order to meet these needs, their lived experiences, and voices must be fully recognized and engaged in the processes and programs of urban co-creation, including in digital spaces and forums. Critical to achieving recognition acknowledging and situating contemporary digital discourses between local municipalities, Black residents, and Black networks within this historically racialized arc is necessary. In doing so, explore if, and how, race, specifically Blackness, is enacted in municipal digital discourse, whether these enactments serve to advance or impede resident recognition and participation, and how Black users, as residents and social network curators, engage and respond to these municipal discursive enactments. This exploratory research is a geographically and digitally multi-sited incorporated comparison of Chicago, Illinois, and Johannesburg South Africa. Using Twitter and ethnographic data collected between December 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, this research layers digital ethnographic mixed methods and qualitive mixed methods, including traditional ethnographic, digital ethnographic, grounded theory, social change and discourse analysis, and frame analysis to explore three research goals. First, explore the digital discursive practices and frames employed by municipalities to inform, communicate with, and engage Black communities, and, if and how, these frames are situated within a historically racialized arc. Second, identify the ways in which Black residents, in dual discursive engagements with local municipalities and their own social networks, interact and engage with the municipal frames centering on Blackness. Third, through ethnographic narratives, acknowledge the marginalized residents of the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa as "agents of knowledge," with critical and valuable knowledge claims which arise from their lived experiences anchored within racialized place and space. In doing so, support the efforts of these residents in recentering the validity of their knowledge claims in the co-creation of urban place and space. Additionally, in situating the city within a historically racialized arc develop novel frameworks, the racialized palimpsest city and syndemic segregation, through which to explore contemporary urban interactions and engagements.

In the present neoliberal era, low-income Black single mothers receiving public assistance must grapple with heightened state surveillance, the devaluation of their mothering, trying to raise Black children in a racist society, and navigating the neoliberal economic system. This dissertation examines how, in light of all this, such women perceive themselves as mothers and what they identify as the greatest influences on their ability to carry out their mothering activities. It specifically investigates how they perceive their race as influencing their motherhood and how they perceive employment in relation to motherhood. Based on in-depth interviews with 21 low-income single Black mothers in Virginia, findings illustrate that the mothers in this study recognize and resist controlling images of low-income Black single motherhood, such as the "welfare queen" and the "baby mama," and that a key aspect of their mothering activities is socializing their children around race and class. Findings also demonstrate that motherhood is a central identity for the women in this study and that they prioritize their motherhood identities over their work identities. In addition, in a departure from previous research on Black motherhood/mothering, findings show that the women in this study do not mother within dense networks of kin and community support. / Doctor of Philosophy / Low-income Black single mothers receiving public assistance must grapple with heightened state surveillance, the devaluation of their mothering, trying to raise Black children in a racist society, and declining social welfare support. This dissertation examines how, in light of all this, such women perceive themselves as mothers and what they identify as the greatest influences on their ability to carry out their mothering activities. It specifically investigates how they perceive their race as influencing their motherhood and how they perceive employment in relation to motherhood. Based on in depth interviews with 21 low-income Black single mothers in Virginia, findings illustrate that the mothers in this study recognize and resist stereotypes of low-income Black single motherhood, such as the “welfare queen” and the “baby mama,” and that a key aspect of their mothering activities is socializing their children around race and class. Findings also demonstrate that motherhood is a central identity for the women in this study and that they prioritize their motherhood identities over their work identities. In addition, in a departure from previous research on Black motherhood/mothering, findings show that the women in this study do not mother within dense networks of kin and community support.

Despite the guidance provided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's manual, which encourages workplaces to create policies that respect racial hair texture differences, hair-based discrimination still exists in workplace appearance policies. When Black women contest this discrimination in courts, presiding judges dismiss their racial claims by decoupling hair from the body as a racial signifier and reducing it to an aesthetic choice. While court decisions and workplace policies contend that Black women's hair's mutability separates it from immutable bodily racial markers, the words of Black women tell a different story. This study uses Black feminism qualitative inquiry to understand the meaning of natural hair and hairstyles from Black women themselves through semi-structured interviews of 16 Black women professionals who wear natural hair and hairstyles in the workplace. Results show that Black women's workplace experiences challenge the courts' assumption of Black women's hair as solely an aesthetic choice. By listening to Black women, we find that choosing to wear natural hair and hairstyles in the workplace is an embodied experience, one that makes their Black and female bodies hypervisible in white space and illuminates the systems of oppression at work within workplace appearance policies and practices that impact Black women's professional success. This study illustrates that white institutional spaces are not only racialized but gendered; that Black women have developed a strategy to combat conformity and embrace authenticity in the workplace, which I call presentability politics; and that using hair as a conduit, Black women practice Black feminist love ethic to reflect a love for self while welcoming others to also express themselves freely in the workplace.