Caribbean Couture – The Tapestry of Identity in the Diaspora.

    Registration
    Telecia Kirkland: "Aesthetics and Personhood of the Black Body" . 7.00pm - 8.30pm Wed. 25 May 22.
    Natasha Henry "Who yuh be?: Black style, body & identity" 7.00pm - 8.30pm Wed. 28 June 22
    Omolara Obanishola "Fashionable Memories: Objects and artists of the Afro-Caribbean experience in the UK 7.00pm - 8.30pm Wed. 27 July 2022
    Serena Lee: " The history and creolisation of Caribbean dress " Wed. 7.00pm - 8.30pm 27 Sept 2022
    ​Elli Michaela Young: "The Jamaican Fashion Guild" Wed. 7.00pm - 8.30pm 27 Oct. 2022
    ​Sharon Morgan "Headwear as an Act of Resistance" 7.00pm -8.30pm Wed. 30 November
PictureJACQULINE BISHOP

​Aesthetics and Personhood of the Black Body
7.00pm - 8.30pm
Wednesday 25 May 2022
Summary: Far from the usual images of the Caribbean as a place of eternal sunshine, hedonism and extreme violence, the region is an incredibly religious and pious place where people are still deeply superstitious and very strongly wedded to their cultural beliefs. Nonetheless, the entire territory does carry historic baggage due to slavery and colonialism that tends to predetermine how people from these islands are perceived by the wider global society.
This historic baggage leads to the politicisation of black bodies which has negated the humanity of black people. One of the ways black people have sought to distance themselves from this politicisation and reclaim their humanity has been through the adoption of respectability.
This research will discuss how women who emigrated to the UK from the Caribbean during the Windrush Era (1948 – 1972) used clothing as a tool to establish their dignity and how the adoption of respectability politics informed their behaviour and style of dressing.
Apart from considerations of increasing self-worth, this presentation will query the power of clothing and adornments to change deep-seated fears and beliefs about black people and ultimately enquire whether clothing and cultivated aesthetics of the black body has ever been able to provide the necessary absolution from vilification.