It's the colour of my skin: race and beauty discourse with Fenty beauty captions and user comments on Instagram

People of colour have long endured a lack of makeup products formulated for melanated skin. In 2017, Fenty Beauty released 40 shades of its foundation and concealer products and expanded its selection in 2019 to match 50 distinct skin tones. These events inspired a new industry standard, labelled “The Fenty Effect”, that prompted other makeup brands to practice greater inclusivity toward darker skin tones. This Major Research Paper (MRP) uses a narrative approach to examine discourses around race and beauty. With a theoretical perspective on power and hegemony, it interprets the intersections of representation, colourism, identity, consumption, and counterpublics through an analysis of Fenty Beauty captions and user comments on Instagram. The results of this study provide preliminary knowledge toward a larger investigation on the shift in racial representations in the beauty industry. Keywords: race; representation; colourism; beauty; social media; identity; consumption

It's the colour of my skin: race and beauty discourse with Fenty beauty captions and user comments on Instagram

People of colour have long endured a lack of makeup products formulated for melanated skin. In 2017, Fenty Beauty released 40 shades of its foundation and concealer products and expanded its selection in 2019 to match 50 distinct skin tones. These events inspired a new industry standard, labelled “The Fenty Effect”, that prompted other makeup brands to practice greater inclusivity toward darker skin tones. This Major Research Paper (MRP) uses a narrative approach to examine discourses around race and beauty. With a theoretical perspective on power and hegemony, it interprets the intersections of representation, colourism, identity, consumption, and counterpublics through an analysis of Fenty Beauty captions and user comments on Instagram. The results of this study provide preliminary knowledge toward a larger investigation on the shift in racial representations in the beauty industry. Keywords: race; representation; colourism; beauty; social media; identity; consumption

Contação de Histórias e Educação Etnicorracial: um Convite a Mulheres Negras

RESUMONeste trabalho temos por objetivo analisar representações excludentes reproduzidas nos espaços escolares, a partir das categorias raça, pobreza, perspectivas de mundo e futuro, relacionando narrativas autobiográficas de três mulheres negras aos dados coletados em agosto de 2016, durante encontros de contação de histórias de temática afro-brasileira com crianças da Escola Alcides Barcelos, no Bairro Getúlio Vargas, retrato da exclusão social e racial da cidade do Rio Grande/RS. Baseamo-nos em debates teóricos sobre exclusão, processos de representação social e educação etnicorracial, para então realizar a investigação no espaço escolar. Concluímos que não é suficiente acreditar numa transformação social através da Escola, visto que ela serve a ordem dominante e reproduz representações sociais e raciais excludentes com vistas à sua manutenção. Contudo, acreditamos que é possível que os agentes sociais produzam uma reeducação das relações etnicorraciais através de experiências no cotidiano escolar e do ensino de História.Mulheres negras. Educação Enticorracial. Escola.ABSTRACTIn this paper we aim to identify exclusionary representations reproduced in the school space, from the subjects of race, poverty, perspectives of the world and future, relating autobiographical narratives of three black women to data collected in august 2016, during african-brazilian storytelling meetings with children at the Alcides Barcelos School in the Getúlio Vargas Neighborhood, portrait of the social and racial exclusion of the city of Rio Grande/RS. We are based on the theory discussion about exclusion, processes of social representation and ethno-racial education, in order to carry out practical research in the school space. We conclude that it is not enough to believe in a social transformation through the school, since it serves the dominant order and reproduces social and racial representations with a view to its maintenance. However, we believe that it is possible for social agents to produce a re-education of ethno-racial relations through experiences of daily school life and teaching History.Black Women. Ethnico-racial Education. School.RESUMENEn este trabajo pretendemos analizar las representaciones excluyentes reproducidas en los espacios escolares, desde las categorías raza, pobreza, perspectivas del mundo y el futuro, relacionando las narrativas autobiográficas de tres mujeres negras con los datos recogidos en agosto de 2016, durante los encuentros de narración de historias con temática afrobrasileña con niños de la escuela Alcides Barcelos, en el barrio Getúlio Vargas, un retrato de la exclusión social y racial en la ciudad de Rio Grande / RS. Nos basamos en debates teóricos sobre exclusión, procesos de representación social y educación etno-racial, para luego realizar la investigación en el espacio escolar. Concluimos que no basta creer en una transformación social a través de la Escuela, ya que ésta sirve al orden dominante y reproduce representaciones sociales y raciales excluyentes produciendo su mantenimiento. Sin embargo, creemos que es posible que los agentes sociales produzcan una reeducación de las relaciones étnico-raciales a través de experiencias en la rutina escolar y en la enseñanza de Historia.Mujeres Negras. Educación Enticorracial. Escuela.SOMMARIOIn questo lavoro si intende analizzare le rappresentazioni esclusive riprodotte negli spazi scolastici, dalle categorie di razza, povertà, prospettive del mondo e futuro, mettendo in relazione le narrazioni autobiografiche di tre donne nere con i dati raccolti nell'agosto 2016, durante gli incontri Narrazione a tema afro-brasiliano con i bambini della scuola Alcides Barcelos, nel quartiere di Getúlio Vargas, un ritratto dell'esclusione sociale e razziale nella città di Rio Grande / RS. Ci siamo basati su dibattiti teorici sull'esclusione, sui processi di rappresentanza sociale e sull'educazione etnico-razziale, per poi svolgere la ricerca nello spazio scolastico. Concludiamo che non basta credere in una trasformazione sociale attraverso la Scuola, poiché essa serve l'ordine dominante e riproduce rappresentazioni sociali e razziali esclusive, producendone il mantenimento. Tuttavia, crediamo che sia possibile che gli agenti sociali producano una rieducazione delle relazioni etnico-razziali attraverso esperienze nella routine scolastica e nell'insegnamento della Storia.Donne nere. Educazione etnico-razziale. Scuola.

“It’s [Not] Like a Racist Thing”: Producing Controversial Racial Representations in Postapartheid South Africa

The production and airing of Color TV (2011–2012), a variety comedy show, on the South African Broadcasting Corporation was seemingly driven by creator, producer, and industry desire for increased representation of “coloreds,” or people of mixed race, seventeen years after the end of apartheid. Although constitutional mandates and nation-building discourses support proportionate racial representations, the series was not renewed. Using critical race theory and a production studies approach, this analysis explores the apparently supportive context that engenders controversial racial representations by minority television personnel. Drawing on in-depth interviews with the creator of Color TV, and the show’s commissioning editor, the study explores how the political economic context of television production constrains racial representations to favor integrative nation-building programming and construct palatable racial representations of minorities.

Production, Distribution, and Consumption: Extending Studies of Racialized Media beyond Racial Representations

The recent 2016 presidential campaign season and subsequent presidency has created a context in which the general public is looking deeper into the “behind the scenes” influences on the media. Of particular interest has been “fake news” and the biases of various news media outlets. These “behind the scenes” actions occur at production (the encoded ideological meanings and narratives, the material structures, the people involved, and global political economy of media), distribution (marketing strategies, gatekeeping practices, laws and policies, and media-industry customs), and consumption (reception and interpretation by media audiences). In this introduction to our special issue, we outline the relevance of examining these extra-representational processes of racialized media, particularly in today’s climate.

Adaptation and Racial Representation in Dell/Gold Key TV Tie-ins

This chapter examines the comic-book adaptations of television series produced by Dell and Gold Key Comics from 1966 to 1973. These comic books often contained diverse casts, especially with African-American characters, yet they are little discussed in relation to racial representations in the medium. The chapter explores these comic books in terms of the visual style used to depict these minority characters and the way the content addresses social issues related to racism and diversity. Finally, it compares the television adaptations to the more popular superhero comics that were also introducing racially diverse casts at the time, and it raises questions about why these comic books are neglected in comics studies.

The Unspeakable Speculative, Spoken

Exploring various absences—what is or should not be represented in addition to the unspeakable in terms of racial representations—is the through line of three recent books about race and speculative fictions. Mark C. Jerng’s Racial Worldmaking: The Power of Popular Fiction (2018) argues racial worldmaking has been at the center of speculative fictions in the US. In Posthuman Blackness and the Black Female Imagination (2017), Kristen Lillvis takes one of the primary thematic concerns of black speculative fictions—the posthuman—and rereads some of the most canonical works in the black feminist literary canon through that lens. Lillvis addresses a traditional problem in the turn to discussions of the posthuman and nonhuman, namely, what does it mean to rethink black people’s humanity when they have traditionally been categorized as nonhuman? Sami Schalk’s Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction (2018) speaks to the absence of a framework of disability in African American literature and cultural criticism. In addressing absence—or, perhaps silence—Schalk offers the most paradigm-shifting challenge to what is speakable and unspeakable: the problem of linking blackness with disability and how to reframe our treatment of these categories.

“Black Man, White Hell”

Pursuing arguments made by Adilifu Nama in Race on the QT, it demonstrates that the films foreground and criticize the racialized and racist terms of the material they are working with. In reflecting on past representations, the films are also reflecting on present representations, and thus on contemporary culture. They testify to an awareness of the historicity of all representations. The chapter argues that the films’ awareness of the complexity of racial representations, of their history, of the racial construction of all bodies, of the multiplicity of identities, of the difficulty of establishing a relationship with another without excluding someone else, of the necessity and limitations of deconstruction and resignification, prove that they are not instances of shameless white appropriation but problematized engagements with racial politics.

Management Representativeness, Ethical Leadership, and Employee Job Satisfaction in the U.S. Federal Government

As the proportion of women and racial minorities in managerial positions has increased in public organizations, considerable attention has been paid to how management representativeness shapes employee work attitudes and what leadership styles moderate these relationships. This study explores separate and joint effects of two types of management representativeness (gender and racial representation of management) and ethical leadership on employee job satisfaction using panel data from the U.S. federal government. The statistical results indicate that racial representation of management and ethical leadership have a positive influence on employee job satisfaction. Further analysis shows that ethical leadership significantly moderates the relationships between the two types of management representativeness and employee job satisfaction, such that gender and racial representations of management are more positively related to job satisfaction under high ethical leadership. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are addressed.