This paper explores an under-researched phenomenon of colourism- the racialised logics of preference for light skin and straight hair (with proximity to Anglo-Saxon aesthetics), with a novel and significant contribution to the study of texturism (hair texture discrimination) as experienced by Black and Black-mixed heritage children in English secondary schools. Drawing on an ethnographically informed qualitative study of four English secondary schools (from diverse geographical locations including Manchester, London and Kent), our findings seek to unsettle racism in school education as a monolithic experience, arguing instead that micro-aggressions take place on the material surface of children’s bodies, especially their hair. Using theoretical offerings from Black worlding (McKittrick, 2021) and post-intersectional black feminism (Tate, 2021) we propose a new materialist examination of texturism in schools by “with-nessing” how schools operate as spaces of institutional racism, white denial and disciplining of Black bodies through seemingly post-racial configurations of school uniform policies. We share qualitative findings from 58 interviews with black children and young people, as well as creative methods including visual portrayals of their hair journeys, self portraits and zine-makings, as ways of destabilising anthropocentric and adult-centred story-telling of children’s experiences as “witness” to passive interlocutors. We conclude through a reflexive praxis, on the power of arts-based methodologies as both method and solution, in fore-fronting child-led activism in reclaiming the freedom to express themselves through their hair practice and fight against whiteness based norms that surveils and curtail their self expression through school uniform policies.

Meet the speakers

Dr Sweta Rajan-Rankin is Reader in Social Work and Sociology at the University of Kent, and Round 6 UKRI Future Leader Fellow (2023-2027) leading an ambitious research project exploring texturism and hair discrimination in secondary schools and transracial adoption family placements in England. A professional social worker, artist and inter-disciplinary scholar, her work explores the intersections between racialisation, embodiment, post-coloniality, affect theory and social work. Her research has been widely published in journals such as Gender Work and Organization and the British Journal of Social Work. She has been BSA Race and Ethnicity Study Group Convenor (2016-2022), Editor of The Sociological Review and Unit Editor for Oxford University Press Racism in Context Oxford Intersections series.

Dr Johnson Elijah Amamnsunu is a Postdoctoral Research Associate and School project lead on the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project, Hair and Care: Hair Discrimination, Texturism and Transracial Adoption, at the University of Kent. An interdisciplinary human geographer, his work examines racialisation, embodiment, education, social marginalisation, coloniality and decolonial approaches to institutional power in African and diasporic contexts. His doctoral research explored social marginality and internal coloniality in Ghanaian education, with particular attention to young people's lived experiences of discipline, resilience and institutional power. His recent work examines hair regulation in Ghanaian schools, Black children's experiences of hair discrimination in England, and the gendered marginalisation, necropolitics and lived experiences of Kayayei (female head porters) in Ghana. His work spans geography, education, race, childhood and social policy, and he is especially interested in research that connects critical theory, participatory methods and institutional change.