Description
by Odedra, Kajal | Society & social sciences
Published 25/01/2023 by 404 Ink in the United Kingdom as part of the Inklings series
Paperback | 112 pages
Hair is potent. Its presence and its absence has profound influence upon our lives, across race, gender, sexuality, status, and more. It will grow in places you don’t like and it may desert you – suddenly, or gradually.
Whatever your experience, you have had a relationship with hair and its power. Kajal Odedra considers how hair has shaped society today, from the ‘perfect’ blondes in the school playground to the angry skinheads on the streets. Mohawks, wigs, afros, these are just a few of the ways in which hair has been part of history and wider activism.
The word ‘essay’ derives from the French ‘essayer’, meaning ‘to try’ or ‘to attempt’. This is Odedra’s ‘try’ at hair – part memoir, part observation across history, politics, religion, and culture. Hair/Power explores the power, control and ultimate liberation that hair can provide.
