From the Kitchen to the Parlor Language and Becoming in African American Women's Hair Care

by Jacobs-Huey, Lanita

• ISBN13: 9780195304152
• ISBN10: 0195304152
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

When is hair "just hair" and when is it not "just hair"? Documenting the politics of African American women's hair, this multi-sited linguistic ethnography explores everyday interaction in beauty parlors, Internet discussions, comedy clubs, and other contexts to illuminate how and why hair matters in African American women's day-to-day experiences.

Author Biography

Lanita Jacobs-Huey is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and co-affiliated with the Program in American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

Table of Contents

Introduction: From the Kitchen to the Parlor	3	(14)
1. Negotiating Expert and Novice Identities through Client-stylist Interactions	17	(12)
2. "We Are Like Doctors": Socializing Cosmetologists into the Discourse of Science	29	(18)
3. A License to Touch: Cosmetology as a Divine Calling	47	(24)
4. Gender, Authenticity, and Hair in African American Stand-up Comedy	71	(18)
5. "BTW, How Do You Wear Your Hair?": Gender and Race in Computer-mediated Hair Debates	89	(16)
6. Constructing and Contesting Knowledge in Women's Cross-cultural Hair Testimonies	105	(24)
7. Critical Reflections on Language, Gender, and "Native" Anthropology	129	(20)
Appendix: Transcription Conventions	149	(2)
Notes	151	(2)
Bibliography	153	(20)
Index	173