Book contents
- Decolonizing African Knowledge
- African Identities: Past and Present
- Decolonizing African Knowledge
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Language and Orthography
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Introduction
- Part II History, Fictions, and Factions
- Part III Visual Cultures
- 9 Sculpture as Archive
- 10 Textiles as Texts
- 11 Canvas and the Archiving of Ethnic Reality
- 12 Yorùbá Hair Art and the Agency of Women
- 13 Photography and Ethnography
- Part IV Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
12 - Yorùbá Hair Art and the Agency of Women
from Part III - Visual Cultures
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 June 2022
- Decolonizing African Knowledge
- African Identities: Past and Present
- Decolonizing African Knowledge
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Language and Orthography
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Introduction
- Part II History, Fictions, and Factions
- Part III Visual Cultures
- 9 Sculpture as Archive
- 10 Textiles as Texts
- 11 Canvas and the Archiving of Ethnic Reality
- 12 Yorùbá Hair Art and the Agency of Women
- 13 Photography and Ethnography
- Part IV Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter dwells on the beauty of a woman’s hair and explains the cultural value attached to the head. The hair is seen as an agentive part of the body, crucial to the wholesome understanding of the entire human framework. It can distinguish gender. For example, the Kojusoko hairstyle is “forbidden” for men. Furthermore, Kojusoko (meaning “face your husband”) is not only known for distinguishing between gender, but also for describing women. The discipline and values inherent in the message being expressed are the typical moral standards of the Yoruba. Besides the gender role and message being conveyed by hairstyles, hairstyles also express spiritual connotations. For example, there is traditional importance to the loose state of the hair of a mourning woman. Other occasions include “naming, cult festivities, pageantry, and celebrations.” With pictorial evidence, the chapter emphasizes how hair shows age, identity, religion, political status, or social categorization and differences in the styles adopted at executing the patterns and drawing the lines, as well as the length used.
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- Decolonizing African KnowledgeAutoethnography and African Epistemologies, pp. 373 - 413Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022