Caste and Colourism: Constructions of beauty among women in the historically Indian area of Chatsworth, Durban

Abstract

This research study has set out to uncover the silences surrounding caste and colourism, and the influence of this on constructions of beauty standards among women in the Chatsworth Indian community. My fieldwork consisted of participant observations and interviews over the course of four weeks at a beauty parlour in Chatsworth, with a predominantly Indian women clientele. There were six participants in this study who consisted of the owner of the beauty parlour, Sandhya, the nail technicians, Mahati and Nidhi, the threaders, Yukti and Kalyani, and the hairdresser, Lavana. Throughout the chapters within this study, I argue that despite the language of caste rarely spoken, it exists as a reconfigured caste system determined by culture and colour, significantly influencing women’s perceptions of beauty. Moreover, certain standards of beauty that favour lighter skin tones as a result of systemic prejudice, influence women to partake in beauty treatments that feed into this ideal. Lastly, women’s choices in certain treatments are severely influenced by their desire to please a man, impress a mother-in-law, flaunt social status to family through a lighter skin tone, and fit an ideal standard of beauty. In theorising beauty, I draw on feminist and postcolonial perspectives, contextualising beauty within historical, socio-cultural, socio-economic, and socio-political dimensions. I use Hauntology as a framework in unmasking the recursive force of caste which consumes women’s everyday lives, dictating marriage criterion, popularity, status, affluence, and beauty standards