Skin Colour Politics: Whiteness and Beauty in India

The book challenges the assumption that desires for light skin are always a desire for whiteness and shows how skin color intersects with and reproduces other categories of social distinction in Indian societies. It historically embeds fairness as an Indian, precolonial yet transnational ideal of beauty, and the bleached body emerges as an active and potentially resistant part of negotiating social status within multiple power relations and complex beauty regimes.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 268 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2022
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG

The pervasive practice of skin bleaching across the globe is widely acknowledged as a deeply ingrained legacy of colonialism and a manifestation of Western notions of beauty. This insightful book presents a fresh perspective on the prevailing preference for fair skin in India, challenging the notion that such desires inherently revolve around a longing for whiteness. Instead, skin color politics in India redefine and reinforce social hierarchies, transcending local and global boundaries. Drawing from extensive primary research conducted in Delhi, this multi-faceted study delves into the intricate interplay between skin color and other social categories such as gender, class, caste, race, region, and religion. It reveals how skin color intersects with and reproduces these categories, shaping the complex tapestry of Indian societies. This book uncovers the historical roots of fairness as an Indian, precolonial yet transnational ideal of beauty. Moreover, it explores how the bleached body emerges as an active participant in navigating social status within the intricate web of power relations and diverse beauty regimes. By meticulously mapping a comprehensive geography of skin colors in India, this book unveils the interconnectedness between fair skin as a locally embedded beauty norm and whiteness as a global cultural imperative. This groundbreaking work sheds light on the intricate dynamics that shape beauty standards and societal perceptions, offering a valuable contribution to our understanding of race, identity, and cultural dynamics in the modern world.

Weight: 368g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783662649213
Edition number: 1st ed. 2022