Demazane Ntombazane! an exploration of hair identity politics through performance and herstory.

Abstract

This dissertation explores, through autoethnography, the identity politics of hair through performance. It is a journey of understanding self, using hair as a site of learning, discovering and acknowledging. This research explores the notion of seeing and knowing the black female body as a place in which meaning is constantly made. The dissertation serves as an act of learning and re-learning about the self through ancestry, community, story and reflection. It can be looked at as a refusal to see the self without knowing and acknowledging those before you. The key intention is to locate the self and experiences in the existing literature on black hair, its significance, history and meaning. It looks at the body as a site of endless possibilities and possible tool of exploration through performance. This exploration is done by looking at the history of black hair in South Africa. How has black hair been looked at and perceived, by the world, culture and religion? It also examines, through Post-Apartheid Feminist Black Consciousness, the black female body in performance and looks at how black female artists uses their works to portray the black female bodies as possible sites of knowledge, resilience and empowerment. Using the creation process and performance of Demazane Ntombazane! I locate myself within the existing conversations on hair.