My research centers Black aesthetics in fashion, form, and language regarding cultural appropriation, examining its unique developments within the social media age (circa 2010-2025). I analyze how non-Black individuals embody Black aesthetics as a means of gaining social capital in the digital landscape. My research explores the following questions: How have Black women’s cultural innovations in fashion, form, and language influenced contemporary trends in the digital age? Additionally, how are these innovations appropriated by non-Black individuals in digital spaces as a means of gaining social capital? My work engages Black Feminism, cultural studies, and performance studies, with a focus on the intersections of desirability and respectability politics, minstrelsy, and internalized racism. I explore how these frameworks intersect with the cultural and historical narratives surrounding Black women's representation, aiming to unpack the ways in which Black women's cultural expressions are destabilized, appropriated, and performed.
My project, tentatively titled “New Age Minstrelsy,” proposes that this embodiment of Black aesthetics surpasses mimicry and mockery. Instead, these emulations reflect a desire to transform one’s sociocultural identity to accumulate social capital. I contextualize these uncertain cultural spectators as the conveyors of the paradigmatic shift toward embodying a monolithic Black aesthetic within the popular imagination. The people who seek to emulate Black aesthetics display an uncertainty of self. When they attempt to adopt the perceived unidimensional traits of Blackness, their ignorance betrays their uncertainty in both themselves and the culture. Through cultural appropriation, non-Black people utilize multifaceted combinations of Black aesthetics to portray an embodied false persona they deem as cooler or more exotic.
Regarding the image of the Black woman, I also contextualize its bastardization and misrepresentation. Using controlling images and historical misconceptions, I compare the construction of Black womanhood to contemporary perceptions, tracing their origins and evolution. I do not claim this is an entirely novel phenomenon, but rather build upon previous scholars' analyses of the fascination with Blackness and its associated social benefits. For example, bell hooks explores this in Black Looks, Race and Representation, Lauren Michele Jackson in White Negroes: When Cornrows Were In Vogue… and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation, and Jillian Hernandez in Aesthetics of Excess: The Art and Politics of Black and Latina Embodiment. These works offer valuable insights into how Black cultural aesthetics have been co-opted for social gain, a dynamic I aim to explore specifically in the context of the social media age.
With my research, I hope to further existing discourse on how Black women are perceived as more attitudinal, provocative, and rebellious. Black stereotypes invoke the controlling images that continually portray Black women as oversexualized, inappropriate, audacious and bold. On Black bodies, these prescriptive traits are perceived as undesirable and further subjugate them in the popular imagination; on non-Black bodies, these traits are perceived as empowering, liberating, sexy, and sometimes humorous. Simultaneously perturbed and inspired by celebrity examples such as Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Awkwafina, I have been scrutinizing this trend in popular culture of emulating and attempting to embody monolithic perceptions of Blackness. I am collecting data on how Black women’s aesthetics are embodied as a means of asserting latent or repressed sexualities to enhance an adultified representation.
I ask several questions in my pursuit of this information: What are the primary avenues through which Black culture has influenced popular culture? How have those avenues shifted over the last decade? How do the fashion and beauty industries intersect in shaping and appropriating Black cultural trends? What role does class play in the establishment and appropriation of Black cultural trends, and how does it shape the accessibility and commodification of these trends in popular culture?
Through my research I intend to interrogate cultural appropriation and its manifestations in fashion, form, and language in the digital age. Grounded in Black Feminist theory, cultural criticism, historical analysis, and media analysis I plan to conduct several case studies within each of those sub-topics. My interdisciplinary approach will help me responsibly articulate the linearity and cultural significance of this work. The historical analysis demonstrates how longstanding dynamics of appropriation inform contemporary practices, and the media analysis shows how those practices evolve in digital spaces. By exploring fashion trends, I will examine the profound influences of hip-hop on popular culture, analyzing apparel (design: styles, patterns, cuts), accessories (jewelry, headwear, grills, nails), and hair (locs, braids, weaves). When I interrogate form, I will be scrutinizing cosmetic enhancements in body modifications (Brazilian Butt Lifts, lip injections), makeup (tanning, altering features), and gesture (dances, expressions of attitude). Lastly, my exploration of language will center on the appropriation of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and slang, as well as the adoption of accents and dialects. I will collect this data by conducting ethnographic observations of online spaces where trends emerge and evolve.
Social media and mass consumption essentially redefine the boundaries of racial identity by commodifying Black aesthetics. TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram provide accessibility to various cultures, allowing people to observe, interpret, and mimic cultural expressions in a vacuum. This consumption is heavily influenced by the dynamics of power, access, and visibility on social media. My work revolves around examining the impact of media and popular culture on perceptions of Blackness, as well as how Black women navigate and resist systemic oppressions. Black women have been simultaneously ridiculed and revered in American popular culture, craving their innovations while denigrating its origins. With Black women’s perspectives at the center of my work, I advance ongoing discussions of appropriation.
Although I was accepted into my program seeking to study the origins of internalized anti-Blackness and self-perception, my intellectual journey has led me to reconnect with my Black Feminist roots and embrace a project deeply embedded within the Black Feminist Tradition. Exposure to foundational and contemporary Black Feminist texts through my coursework has broadened my theoretical framework and refined my analytical lens, making my research more articulate and certain. This evolution has not only clarified my research focus but has also strengthened my commitment to producing scholarship that centers Black women’s voices and advances critical conversations on cultural appropriation.