Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Multiplicity of Beauty and Its Incarnations through Makeup Use in Mexico Cityâ¯
Speaker: Andreaâ¯Urrutiaâ¯Gómezâ¯(Universidadâ¯Autónomaâ¯Metropolitana, Iztapalapa, Mexico)
In Latin America, beauty is not a straightforward concept. Intertwined with an ideological basis of oppression such as race and gender, beauty is a value that is incarnated in our bodies and demonstrated by the adherence of globalised aesthetic standards. In this paper, I aim to explore the multiple interpretations of beauty and its consequent bodily presentations, (re)produced with cosmetic tools. It will be founded on the ethnography done in Mexico City during 2017 and 2018 for my doctoral thesis, which was focused onâ¯aesthetic perceptions and performances of consumers and workers in theâ¯makeup industry, and how they affected the labour executed by the latter. The presentation will delveâ¯into the relationships ofâ¯the resultingâ¯corporeities,â¯examining its racial, class and political foundations at their loci of reference. It will also demonstrate that these appearances are not unilaterally imposed by the cosmetic sector, but they are rebuffed and criticised by clients and a certain segment of makeup producers. Finally, I will argue that the negotiated construction of corporeal presentations is situated on the inspection of beauty as a multifaceted quality and a desired merchandise to portray aspects that are still hierarchically evaluated.
Seminar Programme
Autumn Term 2021
28 Octoberâ¯2021â¯(Inaugural session)
11 November 2021â¯
25 November 2021â¯
9 December 2021
Winter Term 2022â¯
3 February 2022â¯
17 February 2022â¯
3 March 2022â¯
17 March 2022â¯
All are welcome to attend this free seminar, which starts at 17:00 GMT.
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