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Braiding together memoir and cultural criticism,
Hair/Power explores the power, control, and ultimate liberation that hair can provide.
Growing up as a second-generation Indian immigrant, Kajal Odedra remembers the first time she cut her waist-length hair. It was an act of rage, of defiance, an attempt to push back against societal expectations and regain control
Odedra realized at an early age that hair is never “just hair,” and both its presence and absence can have a profound impact on our lives across race, gender, and sexuality. While hair is a powerful form of self-expression, it is also a political battleground, where bodies are policed and normative beauty standards wreak havoc. But who is setting the standards, and how can we dispel these harmful cultural myths?
Interspersing intimate anecdotes with intersectional commentary,
Hair/Power dives into the origins and cultural significance of hair—considering buzz cuts, Mohawks, Afros and the natural hair movement, baldness, and more—exposing the roots of a beauty industry built on discrimination. Ultimately Odedra is able to find joy and strength in hair, and she shows us how hair can be a powerful tool for activism, community building, and bringing about our shared liberation.
A propos de l'auteur
Brooklyn-based Kajal Odedra is a British-Indian author, activist and campaigns strategist and the Global Communications Director of Change.org. As the UK Director of Change.org, she led the strategy for some of the UK’s largest online movements. Her first book,
Do Something (Hodder and Stoughton), was published in 2019. Her writing has appeared in the
Guardian,
Independent,
New Statesman and
The Times. She has given two TED talks, one of them on the power of hair. She received an MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London.
