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From Antebellum Light Skinned Slaves to the Globalization of Skin Whitening Biotechnology

Amina Mire

From Antebellum Light Skinned Slaves to the Globalization of Skin Whitening Biotechnology takes historically grounded analysis and delineates how the skin whitening industry has become a contemporary site that facilitates commodification of unregulated whiteness on a global scale. Amina Mire investigates the extent to which antebellum South anti-miscegenation racial purity laws facilitated unofficial interracial reproduction of light skinned slaves, resulting primarily from a systemic rape of enslaved Black women by white slave masters. This is because while different in terms of historical context, what the unregulated globalization of the skin whitening industry and the antebellum unofficial reproduction and trade in light skinned slaves have in common is the unofficial and unregulated nature of the accumulation of economic, symbolic, and aesthetic investment in whiteness. The central argument of this book is that commodifiable whiteness is a form of racial capital with profound health, social, and political implications. Consequently, as long as whiteness remains a salient ideological force that shapes global understanding of standards of beauty and desirability, commodification of whiteness will continue to further entrench systems of racism and colorism. The author argues this requires taking seriously the resilience and malleability of white supremacy and its ability to rebrand itself endlessly.

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Lexington Books
Pages: 202 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-66690-768-1 • Hardback • March 2025 • $105.00 • (£81.00)
978-1-66690-769-8 • eBook • March 2025 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Subjects: Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations, Psychology / Social Psychology, Health & Fitness / Women's Health

Amina Mire is associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University.

Chapter 1:Situating the Changing History of Skin Whitening

Chapter 2: Tradable Whiteness Across the Color Line

Chapter 3: Black Skin, White Lies

Chapter 4: A Melanin Free Whiteness, or a Biotechnological Dystopia?

Chapter 5: Dismantling the Skin Whitening Industry

References

About the Author

"The entanglement of racism, misogyny and commerce is exposed in this important and timely study of the toxic workings of the global skin lightening and skin whitening industries."


— Keren Rosa Hammerschlag, The Australian National University


From Antebellum Light Skinned Slaves to the Globalization of Skin Whitening Biotechnology

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • From Antebellum Light Skinned Slaves to the Globalization of Skin Whitening Biotechnology takes historically grounded analysis and delineates how the skin whitening industry has become a contemporary site that facilitates commodification of unregulated whiteness on a global scale. Amina Mire investigates the extent to which antebellum South anti-miscegenation racial purity laws facilitated unofficial interracial reproduction of light skinned slaves, resulting primarily from a systemic rape of enslaved Black women by white slave masters. This is because while different in terms of historical context, what the unregulated globalization of the skin whitening industry and the antebellum unofficial reproduction and trade in light skinned slaves have in common is the unofficial and unregulated nature of the accumulation of economic, symbolic, and aesthetic investment in whiteness. The central argument of this book is that commodifiable whiteness is a form of racial capital with profound health, social, and political implications. Consequently, as long as whiteness remains a salient ideological force that shapes global understanding of standards of beauty and desirability, commodification of whiteness will continue to further entrench systems of racism and colorism. The author argues this requires taking seriously the resilience and malleability of white supremacy and its ability to rebrand itself endlessly.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 202 • Trim: 6 x 9
    978-1-66690-768-1 • Hardback • March 2025 • $105.00 • (£81.00)
    978-1-66690-769-8 • eBook • March 2025 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
    Subjects: Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations, Psychology / Social Psychology, Health & Fitness / Women's Health
Author
Author
  • Amina Mire is associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Chapter 1:Situating the Changing History of Skin Whitening

    Chapter 2: Tradable Whiteness Across the Color Line

    Chapter 3: Black Skin, White Lies

    Chapter 4: A Melanin Free Whiteness, or a Biotechnological Dystopia?

    Chapter 5: Dismantling the Skin Whitening Industry

    References

    About the Author

Reviews
Reviews
  • "The entanglement of racism, misogyny and commerce is exposed in this important and timely study of the toxic workings of the global skin lightening and skin whitening industries."


    — Keren Rosa Hammerschlag, The Australian National University


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