Binding: Paperback
Description: In this second edition of the remarkable and now classic cultural history of black women's beauty Venus in the Dark Janell Hobson explores the enduring figure of the " Hottentot Venus" and the history of critical and artistic responses to her by black women in contemporary photography film literature music and dance. In 1810, Sara Baartman was taken from South Africa to Europe where she was put on display at circuses salons museums and universities as the " Hottentot Venus." The subsequent legacy of representations of black women's sexuality from Josephine Baker to Serena Williams to hip - hop and dancehall videos refer back to her iconic image. Via a new preface Hobson argues for the continuing influence of Baartman's legacy as her image still reverberates through the contemporary marketization of black women's bodies from popular music and pornography to advertising. A brand new chapter explores how historical echoes from previous eras map onto highly visible bodies in the twenty - first century. It analyzes fetishistic spectacles of the black "booty " with particular emphasis on the role of Beyonc Knowles in the popularization of the "bootylicious" body and the counter - aesthetic the singer has gone on to advance for black women's bodies and beauty politics. By studying the imagery of the " Hottentot Venus " from the nineteenth century to now readers are invited to confront the racial and sexual objectification and embodied resistance that make up a significant part of black women's experience.
Title: Venus In The Dark Blackness And Beauty In Popular Culture
Author(s): Hobson Janell (University At Albany New York Usa)
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Barcode: 9781138237629
Pages: 226 Pages, 7 Line Drawings, Black And White; 13 Halftones, Black And White
Publication Date: 2/12/2018
Category: Gender Studies: Women