Don't Touch My Hair

Straightened. Stigmatised. 'Tamed'. Celebrated. Erased. Managed. Appropriated. Forever misunderstood. The acclaimed writer and broadcaster explores why black hair is never ‘just hair’.

Emma Dabiri’s groundbreaking book, Don’t Touch My Hair, discusses subjects as wide-ranging as women's solidarity and friendship, forgotten African scholars and the dubious provenance of Kim Kardashian's braids.

Dabiri explores why far from being only hair, black hairstyling culture can be understood as an allegory for black oppression and, ultimately, liberation.

All hair types are welcome on a journey from pre-colonial Africa, through the Harlem Renaissance and Black Power into today's Natural Hair Movement, the Cultural Appropriation Wars and beyond, to discuss why black hair matters and how it can be viewed as a blueprint for decolonisation.