Description
Book SynopsisIn this third edition of the classic cultural history of black womenâs beauty, Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture, Janell Hobson explores the enduring figure of the âœHottentot Venusâ 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 âœHottentot Venus.â The subsequent legacy of representations of black womenâs sexualityâfrom Josephine Baker to Serena Williams to hip-hop and dancehall videos, to our favorite pop acts including BeyoncÃ, Rihanna, and Megan Thee Stallion ârefer back to her iconic image. Via a new preface, Hobson explores the continuing influence of Baartmanâs legacy through the contemporary marketization of black womenâs bodies; from popular music and pornography to advertising and presidential campaigns. A brand-new chapter analyzes fetishistic spectacles of the black âœbooty,â with particular emphasis on the rise in cosmetic surgeries, such as BBLs, and the different ways that twenty-first-century subjects have reshaped and redefined their bodies in an emergent global body politic.
This new edition of Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture is essential reading for students and researchers, as well those outside of academia interested in the subjects of black women and their beautification efforts.
