Decolonising My Body

Name: Decolonising My Body
Brand: RANDOM HOUSE UK
Price: 36.75 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

On Ancestry, Tradition and Cultural Reinvention

By: Afua Hirsch

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Paperback | 5 February 2026

At a Glance

Paperback
208 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.7 x 12.9 x 1.8

Paperback

$36.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $9.19 with

Available: 5th February 2026

Preorder. Will ship when available.

The Sunday Times bestselling broadcaster takes us on a global exploration of ancestral beauty practices. Discover how modern mainstream Eurocentric beauty standards have evolved and how minoritized groups can transcend them by reclaiming their cultural roots.

How do we determine what is beautiful? Whose standards are we trying to meet when we spend our hard-earned money on our haircare, skincare and makeup; where do they come from, and how can we learn to undo them?

Upon getting her first tattoo at 40 years old, award-winning journalist Afua Hirsch embarked on a journey to reclaim her body from the colonial ideas of purity, adornment and ageing she - and many of us - absorbed while growing up. Informed by research from around the world, Afua will look at how individual and collective notions of what is beautiful are constructed or stripped away from us. Through personal anecdotes, interviews from beauty experts, practitioners and service users, she explores the global history of skin, hair and body modification rituals. These insights and discoveries will empower readers to reconnect with their cultures of origin, better understand the link between beauty and politics, and liberate themselves from mainstream beauty standards that aren't serving them.

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