African Women 
bibliographic database
| Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Black female identities in Harare: the case of young women with dreadlocks |
| Authors: | Chitando, Ezra Chitando, Anna |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Periodical: | Zambezia (ISSN 0379-0622) |
| Volume: | 31 |
| Issue: | 1-2 |
| Pages: | 1-21 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | biblio. refs. |
| Geographic terms: | Zimbabwe Southern Africa |
| Subjects: | hairstyles identity black women sociology Women--Identity Dreadlocks Fashion |
| External link: | https://ir.uz.ac.zw/handle/10646/509 |
| Abstract: | The construction of postcolonial African female identities has faced a number of challenges. Colonial ideologies and African patriarchal traditions threaten to stifle African women. African cities have become sites of struggle as black women strive to express themselves in spaces that are defined in masculine terms. This article examines the theme of black female identities in Harare, Zimbabwe. It focuses on how some young women have cultivated dreadlocks as a signifier of their consciousness and of their own identities. It outlines how for these women dreadlocks are more than just a fashion statement or a hairstyle. Dreadlocks seek to defy colonial images of blackness as inferior to whiteness. They also challenge dominant notions of being a 'presentable' woman. The article highlights reasons that have been put forward to resist the cultivation of dreadlocks by women. Using historical, literary and phenomenological approaches, the study highlights the complex factors that influence the formulation of black female identities in a cosmopolitan setting. Data were collected through formal and informal interviews in Harare between May 2003 and June 2004. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |
