
Don't Touch My Hair
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Narrated by:
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Emma Dabiri
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By:
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Emma Dabiri
About this listen
Straightened. Stigmatised. 'Tamed'. Celebrated. Erased. Managed. Appropriated. Forever misunderstood. Black hair is never 'just hair'.
This book is about why black hair matters and how it can be viewed as a blueprint for decolonisation. Emma Dabiri takes us from pre-colonial Africa, through the Harlem Renaissance, Black Power and on to today's Natural Hair Movement, the Cultural Appropriation Wars and beyond. We look at everything from hair capitalists like Madam C.J. Walker in the early 1900s to the rise of Shea Moisture today, from women's solidarity and friendship to 'black people time', forgotten African scholars and the dubious provenance of Kim Kardashian's braids.
The scope of black hairstyling ranges from pop culture to cosmology, from prehistoric times to the (afro)futuristic. Uncovering sophisticated indigenous mathematical systems in black hairstyles, alongside styles that served as secret intelligence networks leading enslaved Africans to freedom, Don't Touch My Hair proves that far from being only hair, black hairstyling culture can be understood as an allegory for black oppression and, ultimately, liberation.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Vital and empowering, What White People Can Do Next teaches each of us how to be agents of change in the fight against racism and the establishment of a more just and equitable world. In this affecting and inspiring collection of essays, Emma Dabiri draws on both academic discipline and lived experience to probe the ways many of us are complacent and complicit - and can therefore combat - white supremacy.
By: Emma Dabiri
-
Twisted
- The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture
- By: Emma Dabiri
- Narrated by: Emma Dabiri
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emma Dabiri can tell you the first time she chemically straightened her hair. She can describe the smell, the atmosphere of the salon, and her mix of emotions when she saw her normally kinky tresses fall down her shoulders. For as long as Emma can remember, her hair has been a source of insecurity, shame, and - from strangers and family alike - discrimination. And she is not alone.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Anonymous User on 07-10-20
By: Emma Dabiri
-
You Can't Touch My Hair
- And Other Things I Still Have to Explain
- By: Phoebe Robinson, Jessica Williams - foreword
- Narrated by: Phoebe Robinson, John Hodgman
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Being a black woman in America means contending with old prejudices and fresh absurdities every day. Comedian Phoebe Robinson has experienced her fair share over the years: She's been unceremoniously relegated to the role of "the black friend", as if she is somehow the authority on all things racial; she's been questioned about her love of U2 and Billy Joel ("isn't that...white people music?"); she's been called "uppity" for having an opinion in the workplace; and yes, people do ask her whether they can touch her hair all. The. Time.
-
-
Phoebe, You Rock
- By Kate on 12-02-16
By: Phoebe Robinson, and others
-
Hair Story
- Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America
- By: Ayana D. Byrd, Lori L. Tharps
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two world wars, the Civil Rights movement, and a Jheri curl later, Blacks in America continue to have a complex and convoluted relationship with their hair. From the antebellum practice of shaving the head in an attempt to pass as a "free" person to the 2013 uproar over an Ohio school that banned Afro puffs, the issues surrounding Black hair continue to linger as we move through the 21stst century.
-
-
Wow! I'm blown away.
- By Nira on 06-17-20
By: Ayana D. Byrd, and others
-
Rememberings
- By: Sinéad O'Connor
- Narrated by: Sinéad O'Connor
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed, controversial singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor comes a revelatory memoir of her fraught childhood, musical triumphs, fearless activism, and of the enduring power of song.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Lora on 06-05-21
By: Sinéad O'Connor
-
Ain't I a Woman
- Black Women and Feminism (2nd Edition)
- By: bell hooks
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A classic work of feminist scholarship, Ain't I a Woman has become a must for all those interested in the nature of Black womanhood. Examining the impact of sexism on Black women during slavery, the devaluation of black womanhood, black male sexism, racism among feminists, and the black woman's involvement with feminism, hooks attempts to move us beyond racist and sexist assumptions. The result is nothing short of groundbreaking, giving this work a critical place in every feminist scholar's library.
-
-
Informative
- By Cj James on 07-23-19
By: bell hooks
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Don't Touch My Hair
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- Cathy Fearn
- 10-02-21
Very enlightening read!
Loved it! Emma Dabiri's research was extensive, thorough, eye opening and touching. God bless Emma Dabiri for speaking the truth!
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- Mosunmola Adeojo
- 05-23-19
An insight into the complexity of African identity
First, Emma Dabiri's voice is soothing. Next, the book gives an insight into the complexity of African identities as evident through Black hair. The book provides a historical, sociocultural and theoretical framework of hair making among Africans and people of African descent, focusing on how certain practices have evolved and how EuroAmerican connections stifled the authenticity of Africans. Nonetheless, Africans remained resolute AND despite the attitude of conveniently dismissing the background of most of the world's popular culture, the enduring nature of African creativity is indisputable.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Savonn
- 06-20-20
More than just the title! A must read!!
I am in awe of Ms. Dabiri's writing style that uses our African Hair as a back-drop to showcase our rich history and culture through prodigy, mathematical genius, architecture kidnapping, the stripping of any humanness to Black Lives Matter. All while touching nearly every continent. i will reread this book again and again. Well done!. x
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- NR
- 07-21-20
Love!
Emma
You embody all of us. Your research and writing through history was nothing short of enjoyable. Thanks for the education!
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Ndidi
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1 person found this helpful