Decolonising My Body

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

How do we determine what is beautiful? Whose standards are we trying to meet when we spend our hard-earned money on our haircare, skincare and makeup; where do they come from, and how can we learn to undo them?

Upon getting her first tattoo at 40 years old, award-winning journalist Afua Hirsch embarked on a journey to reclaim her body from the colonial ideas of purity, adornment and ageing she - and many of us - absorbed while growing up. Informed by research from around the world, Afua will look at how individual and collective notions of what is beautiful are constructed or stripped away from us. Through personal anecdotes, interviews from beauty experts, practitioners and service users, she explores the global history of skin, hair and body modification rituals. These insights and discoveries will empower readers to reconnect with their cultures of origin, better understand the link between beauty and politics, and liberate themselves from mainstream beauty standards that aren't serving them.

©2023 Afua Hirsch (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

  • Exceptionally rich, inspiring, challenging, wise and moving. I didn’t realise I needed this book until I read it and felt stirrings towards my own ancestral awakening of African female cultural beliefs and practices that were sadly long ago lost to the colonial project. This is a ground-breaking book that speaks to all women.

    Bernardine Evaristo, author of 'Girl, Woman, Other'

  • Afua has cut through so much of the noise to provide an enlightening and necessary reflection on how we can learn from the wisdom and beauty of our ancestors to become spiritually healthier humans. This book is a knowledge gift to us all.

    Naomi Evans, author of 'The Mixed Race Experience', co-Founder of Everyday Racism

  • Praise for Brit(ish): Highly personal and yet instantly universal, this is a book that millions will instantly relate to. The book for our divided and dangerous times.

    David Olusoga, author of 'Black and British'

  • Praise for Brit(ish): A warm, informative and occasionally heart-wrenching blend of personal and political and the messiness between the two’

    Nikesh Shukla, author of 'The Good Immigrant'

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