A 2023 POLITICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR (WATERSTONES) | 'GROUND-BREAKING' Bernardine Evaristo | '
UNIVERSAL AND TIMELY ' Elif Shafak | ' IMPORTANT' Sathnam Sanghera | ' A GENEROUS OFFERING '
Nana Darkoa Sekiyamah | ' QUIETLY RADICAL' Evening Standard | ' INTIMATE ' Guardian What can
ancestral practices teach us about how to live fuller lives today? 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 as well as attitudes towards puberty ageing and
death. This book 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 she reassesses notions of body image beyond those of the
colonial patriarchal gaze. Decolonising My Body is a powerful excavation of the Eurocentric
beauty standards that have long shaped how in particular those from the Global Majority are
perceived and view themselves. Taking us from puberty to end-of-life Hirsch 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. These insights and discoveries will empower
you to reconnect with your own ancestry better understand the link between beauty history and
(respectability) politics and liberate yourself from mainstream standards and systems that
aren't serving you. *Co-host of the LOYALTY podcast with Peter Frankopan*
