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Act local, think global – The aesthetics of success: race and Beauty in the global south: a reflection on South African women content creators' online performances on YouTube and Instagram
This media creative project explores the experiences of South African women on social media platforms. The idea for this project stems from my personal experiences as an avid consumer and viewer of online content generated by these women. My engagement with YouTube began about ten years ago, when I...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Centre for Film and Media Studies
2020
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| _version_ | 1867613293094371328 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Kigundu-Touré, Ivy |
| author2 | Smit, Alexia |
| author_browse | Kigundu-Touré, Ivy Smit, Alexia |
| author_facet | Smit, Alexia Kigundu-Touré, Ivy |
| author_sort | Kigundu-Touré, Ivy |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | This media creative project explores the experiences of South African women on social media platforms. The idea for this project stems from my personal experiences as an avid consumer and viewer of online content generated by these women. My engagement with YouTube began about ten years ago, when I started to consistently watch YouTube videos. Later, I would go on to consume Instagram posts by digital content creators. However, these consumption choices of mine were not functions of random videos or pictures promoted on these platforms. Rather my consumption was driven by a desire to see women who looked like me - black women. From 2009 onward black diasporic women, and women on the African continent, were suddenly, it seemed, putting out content related to black women's experiences in the world, with themes relating to education, hair, beauty and all other sorts of lifestyle-related topics. I would be lying if I did not mention how the women on YouTube talking about their natural hair drove me to explore a hair routine away from chemicals. Straightening our natural hair and being 'presentable' according to Eurocentric standards were for a long time, a burden into my life. I began consuming their videos whereby the content creators were encouraging the viewers to own their natural hair and most importantly, own whatever hairstyle they seemed to 3 fit. The choice of how we present ourselves seemed to come back to us, and the space in which it was performed felt like a safe, communal one. Six years ago, a black youtuber called Chizi Duru, had cut all her hair to start all over again without any chemicals. The act of cutting off all your hair within the community was labeled 'The Big Chop': an act of rebirth, renewal and resistance for black women. I went along and did the same, following her journey and exploring my own. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32245 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:49.949Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateRange | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | Centre for Film and Media Studies |
| publisherStr | Centre for Film and Media Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32245 Act local, think global – The aesthetics of success: race and Beauty in the global south: a reflection on South African women content creators' online performances on YouTube and Instagram Kigundu-Touré, Ivy Smit, Alexia Global media This media creative project explores the experiences of South African women on social media platforms. The idea for this project stems from my personal experiences as an avid consumer and viewer of online content generated by these women. My engagement with YouTube began about ten years ago, when I started to consistently watch YouTube videos. Later, I would go on to consume Instagram posts by digital content creators. However, these consumption choices of mine were not functions of random videos or pictures promoted on these platforms. Rather my consumption was driven by a desire to see women who looked like me - black women. From 2009 onward black diasporic women, and women on the African continent, were suddenly, it seemed, putting out content related to black women's experiences in the world, with themes relating to education, hair, beauty and all other sorts of lifestyle-related topics. I would be lying if I did not mention how the women on YouTube talking about their natural hair drove me to explore a hair routine away from chemicals. Straightening our natural hair and being 'presentable' according to Eurocentric standards were for a long time, a burden into my life. I began consuming their videos whereby the content creators were encouraging the viewers to own their natural hair and most importantly, own whatever hairstyle they seemed to 3 fit. The choice of how we present ourselves seemed to come back to us, and the space in which it was performed felt like a safe, communal one. Six years ago, a black youtuber called Chizi Duru, had cut all her hair to start all over again without any chemicals. The act of cutting off all your hair within the community was labeled 'The Big Chop': an act of rebirth, renewal and resistance for black women. I went along and did the same, following her journey and exploring my own. 2020-09-13T20:05:19Z 2020-09-13T20:05:19Z 2020 2020-09-13T20:04:36Z Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32245 eng application/pdf Centre for Film and Media Studies Faculty of Humanities |
| spellingShingle | Global media Kigundu-Touré, Ivy Act local, think global – The aesthetics of success: race and Beauty in the global south: a reflection on South African women content creators' online performances on YouTube and Instagram |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Act local, think global – The aesthetics of success: race and Beauty in the global south: a reflection on South African women content creators' online performances on YouTube and Instagram |
| title_full | Act local, think global – The aesthetics of success: race and Beauty in the global south: a reflection on South African women content creators' online performances on YouTube and Instagram |
| title_fullStr | Act local, think global – The aesthetics of success: race and Beauty in the global south: a reflection on South African women content creators' online performances on YouTube and Instagram |
| title_full_unstemmed | Act local, think global – The aesthetics of success: race and Beauty in the global south: a reflection on South African women content creators' online performances on YouTube and Instagram |
| title_short | Act local, think global – The aesthetics of success: race and Beauty in the global south: a reflection on South African women content creators' online performances on YouTube and Instagram |
| title_sort | act local think global the aesthetics of success race and beauty in the global south a reflection on south african women content creators online performances on youtube and instagram |
| topic | Global media |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32245 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kigundutoureivy actlocalthinkglobaltheaestheticsofsuccessraceandbeautyintheglobalsouthareflectiononsouthafricanwomencontentcreatorsonlineperformancesonyoutubeandinstagram |