Embracing Afro hair, resisting colourism: Black women’s experiences in North Cyprus

ABSTRACT

This paper takes the intersectional domains of power framework to examine Black Cypriot women’s experiences with Afro hair in a community where black colour, hair, and features are othered. This paper draws particular attention to the interpersonal and cultural domains of power. We examine how hair prejudice has endured within families and in the Turkish Cypriot community by focusing on space and time differences. We compare the experiences of five women who were born in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s. We aim to connect the history of slavery and colonialism to show how the unique experiences of Black women in Cyprus are also tied to global racism.

KEYWORDS:

• Afro hair
• Afro Cypriots
• colourism
• North Cyprus
• colonialism
• racism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Kanay, during her larger oral history research (2013), learned that there are few Black Greek Cypriot families. A future comparative study is needed to capture experiences of Afro Cypriots on two sides of the divide.

2 For an interpretation about meanings of short hair for boys and differences of it from girls in a village in Turkey, see Delaney (1994).