About this event
Afua Hirsch: Decolonising My Body
In conversation with Margareta Jolly
Upon turning forty, Afua Hirsch had an encounter that forever altered her preconceived notions of ancestry and body image, making her question everything from body-modification rituals such as tattoos and piercings to the foundations of sexuality. Taking us from puberty to end-of-life, she shows us that the ways in which we adorn and present ourselves have spiritual implications and shape the possibilities we see for ourselves in the world.
Decolonising My Body charts her year-long journey of radical unlearning. Bringing together global scholarship, on-the-ground reportage, personal anecdotes and interviews with beauty experts, practitioners and service users, Hirsch reassesses notions of body image beyond those of the colonial, patriarchal gaze.
“Exceptionally rich, inspiring, challenging and moving.” Bernadine Evaristo
Afua Hirsch is a writer and filmmaker, known for storytelling on black culture, identity and social justice, rituals and beauty. A journalist of 30 yearsHer documentaries include Africa Rising, and Enslaved, which she co-hosted with Samuel L Jackson. Her bestselling books include Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging. Afua is a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California.
Margaretta Jolly is a Professor in Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex, with interests in life writing, oral history and critical heritage.
Price: £12 or £20 combined ticket with Robin Lustig: And The Cello Came Too
