Os pretos não são brancos de pele escura: moda, cultura e políticas do estilo negro no século XX

Abstract

This work investigates the politics of Black style throughout the twentieth century, seeking to understand what it meant for Black people living in societies marked by racial discrimination to deliberately manipulate their own appearance. To this end, it examines how these practices functioned as forms of resistance, identity affirmation, and struggles for recognition across different contexts of the African diaspora. Grounded in the understanding that style transcends the aesthetic dimension and functions as a social and political language, the study examines the historical construction of the relationships between the body, clothing, hair, and identity, demonstrating how these practices were continuously shaped by mechanisms of racial control while simultaneously being mobilized as means of producing belonging and visibility. Methodologically, the research combines a literature review, document analysis, and the interpretation of visual sources, including photographs, periodicals, advertisements, album covers, music videos, and magazines. The interpretation of these sources draws on contributions from History, Cultural Studies, Fashion Studies, and African Diaspora Studies. The investigation begins with strategies of respectability developed by Black populations during the early decades of the twentieth century, moves through the politics of affirmation associated with the Black Power movement and soul music, examines the transnational circulation of these references across the Black Atlantic, and finally analyzes their incorporation into Brazilian mass culture. The study concludes that Black style is not merely an adornment but a historical, creative, and political language through which Black populations articulated collective memories, affirmed belonging, and reinvented ways of being within the African diaspora.