The body as a medium in the medium Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship Sarah Back This paper explores how socio-political discourses are constructed and developed transmedially in Bernardine Evaristo’s authorship, using the discourse of Black hair politics (Craig 2006; Davis 1994; Hooks 1989, 1995, 2015; Robinson 2011) as an example. Special attention will be paid on the ways in which the body can function as a medium in the development of these discourses. Firstly, it will be explored how the discourse is constructed through the body in the novel Girl, Woman, Other (2019) and, secondly, how the same discourse is continued and developed transmedially in other forms of media - in this case, in the Sunday Times UK special issue “BEAM” (2020) edited by Evaristo. To that end, both, Girl, Woman, Other and “BEAM”, will be examined through the lens of Evaristo’s method of ‘showing and informing’- a combination of illustration/ portrayal and historical, socio-political contextualization - to build a discourse throughout the explored media units. In the course of exploring the processes in the construction of Evaristo’s transmedial discourses, the different functions that the body assumes in constructing and transmedially developing Evaristo’s Black hair discourse, will be identified through the lens of phenomenology/ feminist embodiment (Ahmed 2007; Fanon 1952; Lehtinen 2014) as well as Situated Knowledges (Haraway 1988) and Black feminist standpoint theory (Hill Collins 2000, 2002, 2010). Three identified versions of ‘the body’ will eventually be explored in the context of transmediality and Evaristo’s authorship: the physical body, the body of the community, and the authorial body. Through these three versions of body in their interplay across various forms of media as well as in the course of Evaristo’s ‘showing and informing’, the embodied, situated, frequently contradictory, perspectives on Black hair politics are revealed, thus presenting the discourse in its complexity and Evaristo’s authorial figure as central aspect in the development of these discourses. AAA - Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik Agenda: Advancing Anglophone Studies Band 49 · Heft 2 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen DOI 10.24053/ AAA-2024-0024 Sarah Back 168 1. Introduction: Evaristo’s authorship, transmedial discourses, and the body In his discussions on transmedia storytelling, Henry Jenkins argues that “moving characters from books to films to video games can make them stronger and more compelling” (2003: online). This paper’s aim is to illustrate how moving sociopolitical discourses 1 from books to online media can make them stronger, and in their entanglement with the body, authors and their authorship more compelling - using the example of Bernardine Evaristo’s transmedial ‘Black hair’ discourse. The forty years of Bernardine Evaristo’s artistic output encompasses theatre, poetry and novels. Throughout this period, her work has consistently engaged with discourses centred on race, gender, and the African diaspora. Similarly, her commitment to feminist and activist causes, which has, for instance, manifested in numerous mentoring programs for writers of colour in Britain, spans several decades as well (Evaristo 2022: online). While Evaristo’s works have been well received by literary critics, their sales were limited (Kleiber 2022: online). This meant that for a long time, her artistic work and activist projects were not given a prominent platform. However, when she (together with Margaret Atwood) won the Booker Prize in 2019 for her novel Girl, Woman, Other - the first ever Black woman in history - Evaristo’s career took a significant turn. Since then, Evaristo has given numerous interviews, delivered public talks, participated in panel discussions, won a considerable number of followers on social media, contributed short stories and essays to online magazines, and guest edited several publications. It soon became evident that Evaristo was not going to allow the newfound attention to go to waste: she has utilized various channels, both offline and online, to engage in discourses surrounding the topics with which she has been involved for decades. And the manner in which she approaches and discusses these discourses, thereby staging her authorship project, is fascinating to observe. The novel Girl, Woman, Other, for which she received the Booker Prize and which centres on the lives of twelve women of colour living in or immigrating to England, brings together the discourses with which she has engaged in her previous works, and, at the same time, serves as the base 1 In this context, and in line with “British cultural studies collectively” Sawyer (2002: 450), discourse is understood as a form of communication or debate about a particular socio-political issue or topic that is primarily directed and guided by Evaristo (in the form of transmedial storytelling) and to some extent shaped by other actors (such as audiences). In the process of constructing a discourse, Evaristo defines relevant concepts and terms, assigns meaning to them, and forms semantic relationships between stories, concepts and terms that ultimately create the discourse. Consequently, exploring a discourse in the context of transmedial storytelling and authorship involves considering “the concepts, enunciative modalities, objects or strategies that are part of discourse formation” Sawyer (2002: 447), which will be attempted in this article. Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 169 for many of her subsequent transmedial stagings. Consequently, Evaristo has constructed her authorial project around the discourses present in the novel, such as gendered racialisations in the arts and beauty industry, or forms of discrimination and exclusion of people of colour from Western cultural establishments. In other words, these discourses are discussed in the novel, as well as in other offand online-media, such as essays on Harper’s Bazaar, interviews in The Guardian, or Instagram posts, as a form of telling stories across media. This approach enables her to create an author persona that reflects both a version of feminist/ activist authorship due to the types of discourses involved and a version of (post)digital authorship due to the methods and tools she employs. Consequently, her engagement with digital media reflects a novel form of literary activism that challenges the boundaries between literary production and activist engagement. Furthermore, the manner in which Evaristo constructs her authorship project and unfolds and intertwines discourses transmedially is characterised by a pronounced material, physical and corporeal quality. This encompasses discourses that conceptualise the body as a central element in the formation and evolution of global social structures, as well as the significant function of the body in the medialisation of discourses across diverse (digital) platforms. Consequently, at both the level of content and implementation, these discourses are embodied - in different manners and in varying intensities. A study of ‘the body’ in Evaristo’s transmedial discourses thus offers insights not only into a new centrality of materiality (of, for example, ‘flesh and bone’, the physical body) in the (post)digital realm, but also into the inescapable role of the body in a feminist of colour authorship project. This indicates that the body (in its various conceptualisations) is a crucial player in the transmedial ‘project Evaristo’, as it plays a fundamental role in the construction, discussion and evolution of its transmedial discourses across diverse versions and functions, including figurative, physical and visual. Consequently, as different versions of the ‘body Evaristo’ play a significant role in her authorship project, the role of Evaristo’s public persona, as shaped, manifested and disseminated through these versions of the body, is also considered in this exploration. It is thus essential to undertake a comprehensive examination of the various manifestations of the body in order to gain a thorough understanding of the workings, functions and structures of a transmedial authorship discourse such as Black hair politics. To illustrate Evaristo’s transmedial construction and development of these discourses, the example of ‘Black hair politics’ and its development across two media units will be explored. Firstly, the way in which the discourse is constructed in Girl, Woman, Other will be discussed. Subsequently, the analysis will focus on the way the discourse is revisited and developed transmedially in the online version of the Sunday Times UK Special Issue “BEAM”, which was guest edited by Evaristo in June 2020. Given the significance of the body in Evaristo’s discourses and her authorship in general, Sarah Back 170 particular attention will be paid to the ways in which bodies, or the various forms of body, represent, construct and develop Evaristo’s transmedial Black hair discourse. 2. Transmediality Simply speaking, transmedia means “across media” (Jenkins 2011: online; Rajewsky 2013: 22). In this paper - in the context of socio-political discourses moving across media and thus forming authorship - transmediality is understood following Irina Rajewsky’s distinction between transand intermediality, where transmediality is defined as “non-media-specific phenomena that can be enacted in different media with the means specific to each medium” (Rajewsky 2002: 12-3; [own translation].) In particular, the concept of “transmedia storytelling” as introduced 2 by Henry Jenkins in 2003, is applied. According to Jenkins, in transmedia storytelling, “integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels to create a unified experience. Ideally, each medium makes its unique contribution to the unfolding of the story” (Jenkins 2007: online). This means that, in the context of digital media, narratives are constructed across a range of different media platforms, which enables audiences to consume and experience entire fictional worlds in their entirety. In “Transmedia 202: Further Reflections”, Jenkins extends his concept of transmedia storytelling adding further “logics”, as he calls them, such as “transmedia branding”, “transmedia performance”, “transmedia activism”, “transmedia spectacle”, etc. into the mix (Jenkins 2011: online), arguing that the same principle - the systematic scattering of elements of an entirety, a narrative, etc. across multiple channels - can be applied to various phenomena. Following the paradigm of “convergence culture”, “where old and new media collide” (2006) 3 , Jenkins attempted to understand the various ways in which more established forms of media and recently emerged ones ‘meet’, connect, form each other, or influence each other, as well as what kinds of new dynamics, hierarchies and phenomena have emerged and are in the process of emerging from these forms of convergence (Jenkins 2006: 13- 37). While Jenkins, when it comes to his approach to transmedia storytelling, is mostly concerned with the construction of fictional worlds and phenomena across media, Evaristo’s transmedial discourses - which can also be defined as a form of transmedia storytelling - reflect the emergence and development of a sociopolitical discourse across at least two media units. Evaristo’s transmediality both transgresses forms of media and moves across fictional and non-fictional spheres, and through this, her audience 2 The term was first used in some form by Masha Kinder in 1991 in her work Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games. 3 The title of a monograph by Henry Jenkins (2006). Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 171 can grasp her discourses in their complexity and variety - by reading about and/ or viewing different aspects of discourses across Evaristo’s media appearances and products, projects, and written works. Evaristo can spread these even more effectively, systematically speaking (Jenkins 2003: online), by strategically including fictional elements that develop the discourse in the direction of her favour. Furthermore, while it is often emphasised that the original medium (in the case of Evaristo’s Black hair politics, the novel Girl, Woman, Other) plays no or only a minor role (Rajewsky 2002, 2013), in the case of transmediality and authorship it does make sense to reflect upon a possible original medium, because such reflections provide insights into hierarchies or relationships between the work, the author, and readers. Reflecting on a potential original medium in transmedia storytelling is of particular interest in the case of Evaristo’s discourses (such as Black hair politics): For Evaristo, winning the Booker prize for the novel - in which the discourses are at the centre - only provided the foundation for the subsequent media attention that she required to pursue these forms of transmedial continuations and developments of her discourses over the following months and years. 3. Showing and informing In her authorship project, Evaristo frequently uses the technique of ‘showing’. This may take various forms, including the use of visual materials, such as images, or detailed verbal descriptions. The shown subject is frequently a non-male body of colour. However, the shown body is never portrayed in isolation; it is always presented in a contextualised and well-informed manner: It is frequently described from multiple, well-informed, perspectives or portrayed through a variety of body practices. Thus, for instance, nude, queer, old bodies are shown as well as bodies having (consensual) sex and bodies being raped. Consequently, presenting the body and applying certain gazes at this body in relation to the discourse under discussion are defined, in this context, as ‘showing and informing’. This involves the combination of ‘visual’ showing (portraying, describing) and contextualising, explaining and informing about a discourse that either occurs simultaneously in one medium or connects two or more, with the body playing a central role. In Evaristo’s case, the body assuming the role of the medium in her transmedial discourses is frequently a non-male body of colour, which, in the context of feminist of colour authorship, significant. The representation of the non-male body of colour in mainstream media is characterised by stereotypes and “controlling images” (Hill Collins 2000: 72-84), ranging from forms of “mammification” to “hypersexualisation” (ibid.). Consequently, artists and scientists of colour have faced challenges in depicting and exploring the female body of colour in its diversity. In particular, the Sarah Back 172 representation of sexuality has been avoided out of fear from reproducing stereotypes and controlling images (Hammonds 1997: 98-99; Willis & Williams 2002: 88). Conversely, the attempts of pop stars such as Beyoncé to utilize their, naked or sparsely dressed, bodies in a conscious manner are - while applauded for their Black feminist motives - defined as insufficient (Hobson 2018; Hooks 2016). For instance, Janell Hobson argues that, despite their efforts, popular ‘Black feminist’ performances, are, in their following the logics of western, white, male spectatorship, “limited visions, divorced from political consciousness of race and gender issues”, and “would only perpetuate familiar stereotypes” (2018: 99). In addition, according to bell hooks, in order “to look anew, to radically revision how we see the black female body […] simply showcasing beautiful black bodies does not create a just culture of optimal well being where black females can become fully self-actualized and be truly respected” (2016: online). Consequently, in terms of the representation of the non-male body of colour, two vicious circles have existed: Avoiding presentations of naked nonmale bodies of colour has led to ever more restrictive representations, while ‘simply showcasing’ non-male bodies of colour has reinforced existing harmful images and stereotypes. How, then, can theory, art and activism contribute to the emancipation of the non-white, non-male body from restrictive, discriminatory, and exclusionary images and representations? And, how can the body then play such a significant role in Evaristo’s intersectional feminist authorship? Bell hooks has indicated that, in order to achieve some form of liberation of the non-male body of colour of harmful images, a mainstream representation of the body must be accompanied by and embedded in informed cultural and political discussion (2016: online), stories need to be told about these bodies. Thus, it is vital to both show and inform, and this strategy or method can, in Evaristo’s case, be observed throughout her transmedial authorship project. Evaristo’s ‘showing and informing’ can consequently be defined as both a means to weave, construct, develop her socio-political discourses transmedially and to integrate the body in her authorial practices. Thus, this tool enables Evaristo to firstly, integrate the body as a central element in her authorship project and, secondly, to construct and portray her sociopolitical discourses in their complexity. Evaristo’s ‘showing and informing’ thus allows readers to consider and reflect upon the multiple representations and attitudes towards the body - which can subsequently be contrasted and questioned - as a form of informing about a discourse. Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 173 4. The politics of Black hair Before embarking on the analysis, it is necessary to provide a brief overview of the discourse through which Evaristo’s transmedial construction of discourses will be exemplified, the politics of Black hair. Black hair politics are inextricably linked to the concept of Blackness. Rooted in slavery and colonialism, natural Black hair, along with other physical characteristics of people defined as ‘Black’, has been established as a major cause for discrimination targeting people with hair of a certain structure, mostly found among people with African ancestry (Craig 2006; Dabiri 2020; Davis 1994; Hooks 1989; 1995; Montle 2020). This has proven especially severe and consequential at the intersection of race and gender (Robinson 2011), where hair has been used as an argument to dominate, sexualize or dehumanize women of colour for centuries (Ngandu‐Kalenga Greensword 2022). The structural inequalities based on the construction of race have been taken up in theory and activism in many ways: For instance, in the past decades, there has been much discussion about how, in terms of global body aesthetics (Byrd & Solomon 2005; Deliovsky 2008; Hooks 1995; Irvin 2016), physical aspects considered ‘white’ (among it, long, straight hair) have been defined as global ideals of beauty, while natural Black hair has been found to be perceived as unprofessional, inaesthetic, etc. (Dabiri 2020; Donahoo & Smith 2022; Rowe 2021). In addition, Black women have suffered professional and financial disadvantages (Tate & Fink 2019) as a result of wearing Black hairstyles such as braids, or, even more so, natural hair (Opie & Phillips 2015). Toks Oyedemi defines this “consent to the hegemonic notion of beautiful hair” as a “very violent process […] [which is] enmeshed with all forms of violence: physical, direct, structural, cultural and symbolic” (2016: 537-538). And this form of global violence and eurocentric notion of aesthetics has given rise to a global billion-dollar hair straightening industry (which also perpetrates this violence) that can be defined as a symptom of the fact that ‘white beauty’ is a global commodity (Deliovsky 2008; Hunter 2005; Hunter 2007; Hunter 2011; Mire 2019). As Adele Morrison adequately summarises, “straightening is whitening. Whitening is bettering. Therefore, straightening is bettering. It is bettering in that it makes Black women more acceptable in environments dominated by whites” (2010: 89). In the past decades, however, the wearing of natural Black hair is and has been promoted in many settings (Canella 2020; Dash 2006; Neil & Mbilishaka 2019; Walker 2007). One such setting is the ‘African’ hair salon, which, in the course of its increasing prevalence, has “contributed to the current, new form of Afrocentrism, allowing hair to be a connective force between Black women in the Diaspora” (Ngandu‐ Kalenga Greensword 2022: 13). Yet, Black hair is still subject to discrimination and stigma (Joseph-Salisbury & Connelly 2018) throughout institutions in the west-be it education (Phelps-Ward & Howard 2022), marriage Sarah Back 174 and job markets (Donahoo 2023; Hunter 2011; Jones 2020), or law enforcement (Donahoo & Smith 2022). It is precisely these aspects and themes of this vast, global discourse that Evaristo has repeatedly highlighted and discussed in a multitude of contexts. For instance, Evaristo stated in a public conversation “Fashion and Fiction” at V&A London in 2020 which was focussed on beauty matters in her novel Girl, Woman, Other, “when we wear our hair natural […] it’s considered socially unacceptable in many spaces” (Sounds Right 2020: online). This statement provides a glimpse into the workings of Evaristo’s transmediality, which will subsequently be explored in more detail: Evaristo refers to Girl, Woman, Other in her discussion about forms of discrimination in relation to Black hair in this talk while additionally providing ‘real-life’ examples of Black-hair oppression. In his way, through transmedial storytelling, the discourse is contextualized, extended, and developed by Evaristo. 5. Black hair politics in Girl, Woman, Other (2019) If indeed there were a basis or origin for Evaristo’s transmedial discourse on Black hair, a proposition that can be argued to be (at least in the temporal sense) valid, then it would be Evaristo’s novel Girl, Woman, Other, as Evaristo refers to the novel across media when addressing the discourse. The following examples, text passages and methods, will illustrate the manner in which the politics of Black hair are constructed as a discourse in the novel. In the novel, Evaristo’s ‘showing and informing’ plays a central role in the construction of Black hair politics. In the course of various instances (presented in a sequence of events, covering different women through a third-person omniscient narrator), Black hair is introduced in relation to the portrayed women’s respective situations, practices, and circumstances. Certain, contrasting and contradictory, characteristics and actions are consequently attributed to Black hair, embedding it in a multifaceted picture. The following examples illustrate the descriptions of hair and the actions performed on it, primarily conveyed through ‘showing,’ and perspectives on hair, primarily conveyed through ‘informing,’ in relation to the narrator (in short, what is said about hair and by whom). Through exploring present gazes at Black hair as well as practices connected to it, both its role and its functions in the respective situations will be revealed. Furthermore, it will be investigated what specific gazes at Black hair and/ or hair practices reveal about the character, and, consequently, about their social, cultural or institutional situatedness. Altogether, it will be discussed what these instances of Evaristo’s ‘showing and informing’ in their interplay contribute to the Black hair discourse as established in the novel. Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 175 In general, gazes at hair can be divided in two categories: By one group of characters, Black hair is disciplined (disregarded, shamed, etc.), by the other, hair is celebrated (admired, adored, etc.), which is why these perspectives will be henceforth named ‘colonial’ (disciplining) and ‘oppositional’ (celebrating) gazes. Both gazes at Black hair play an important role throughout the novel, adding various perspectives and layers to the discourse of Black hair politics. Disciplining perspectives or colonial gazes are realized in various manners in the novel. They can, for instance, manifest themselves through opinions, worries, anger, or shame in relation to Black hair. In addition, disciplining perspectives can present themselves through practices related to hair - things done to Black hair. In all instances, hair is presented, in the course of which showing takes place, and, is subsequently disciplined in one form or another. The act of disciplining is then formed in such a way that it is embedded in a bigger socio-political construct and/ or presented as a contributing or determining factor for decisions or developments in the novel’s plot; and in this way, a version of ‘informing’ takes place. For instance, Black hair is “straightened and scraped back into a martial topknot” (2019: 114), “gelled down and side-parted to look very smart and professional” (2019: 190), “real hair” hasn’t been “seen or felt” for decades (2019: 427), or hair is subject to “touching” and “staring” by white girls (2019: 376). To illustrate how aspects of Black hair politics are constructed through disciplining hair, two passages will be explored in more detail in the following. Successful city of London banker and second-generation Nigerian immigrant Carole’s appearance is described as follows: “look at her / / in her perfectly tailored city clothes, the balletic slope of her / / shoulders, straightened hair scraped back into a martial topknot” (2019: 114). As further thoughts and recollections from Carole are shared in this section, it can be concluded that Carole’s perspective on Black hair is revealed. Consequently, a version of hair is presented within a larger context, namely in relation to Carole’s coming-of-age story. In the chapter that narrates Carole’s story, her journey from the only child of a Nigerian widow living in a housing estate who was raped at thirteen, to gaining admission to Oxford University, is recounted. Carole has reached this goal through the application of discipline, hard work and the assistance of a schoolteacher (Mrs. King/ Shirley). She then proceeds to excel at Oxford, adopting the habits, language and appearance of the white upper class, marrying a white, posh man, and subsequently advancing her career as a banker despite the everyday institutional racism she encounters. Since the passage revolving around Carole’s appearance opens with “look at her,” it indicates a certain pride on Carole’s part to have achieved what she has achieved, and to look the way she looks in this very moment. In short, her appearance seems to represent her achievements. And Carole’s Sarah Back 176 hair, in addition to her posture and attire, plays a central role. It is straightened since only in this version, it is suitable and appropriate, which Carole explains in a conversation with her then-boyfriend Marcus: He “said he preferred / / her hair natural, she told him she’d never get a job if she did that” (2019: 137). Thus, in this example, ‘showing’ is realized in the presentation of a version of Black hair within a specific context, while, Carole’s proud gaze at her straightened hair can already be defined as a version of ‘informing,’ presenting straightened hair in the context of personal achievements. Furthermore, in terms of ‘informing’, the practice described related to Carole’s hair is important as well. Carole’s hair is “scraped back into a topknot.” In more detail, Carole’s hair is scraped back into a topknot to suit her perfectly tailored attire and fit into her flawlessly assembled appearance as someone who’s made it. Carole’s perspective consequently reveals that straightened and scraped back hair signifies, for Carole, embodied professionality. This means that, in regard to the Black hair discourse, the act of straightening and scraping back in the course of Carole’s voyage from rags to riches presents straightened Black hair as a bodily reflection of professionalism and success (Dixon & Telles 2017; Hunter 2011). This passage consequently illustrates a particular aspect of the discourse surrounding Black hair in the novel, demonstrating how discrimination operates at the intersection of race, class and gender in the context of the job market. In Carole’s case, straightened Black hair is contextualized as a bodily sign of professionality, and in Carole’s case, the practice of straightening, making it sleek thus elegant - taming it - mirrors the gateway to socioeconomic upward mobility. Straightening and crapping Black hair back into a topknot signifies the utmost degree of disciplining - pulling it back and making it small. Thus, Carole’s gaze reveals that, for a Black woman in London, maximum professionality is achieved through maximum disciplining of Black hair. The second passage centres on a similar story, however, in a rather different socio-economic context. LaTisha, a single mother of three with a difficult history of neglect who has recently been promoted supervisor in a supermarket, is described as follows: “LaTisha / / is wearing her uniform of navy-blue trousers with a / / crease down the front, navy blue cardigan, fresh white shirt, hair gelled down and / / side-parted / / very smart and professional” (2019: 190). Again, LaTisha’s perspective at her own appearance is covered in this passage. This time, it is not straightened or stretched Black hair that is shown, but rather Black hair in its natural state, which can be inferred from the described hair practice of ‘gelling down.’ From LaTisha’s manner of describing herself, one can again sense pride in her personal achievements. And this proud gaze is directed at both her ‘professionally’, as she frames it, and her appearance, where hair again plays a central role. While this time, Black hair is shown in its natural state, it is still disciplined: The depicted practice involves pulling hair down tightly- Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 177 sleeking it down to get rid of curls and kinks-and then fixing it tightly in the back. Furthermore, in the passage, Black hair is “gelled down and sideparted” to make it “look very smart and professional.” Consequently, LaTisha’s appearance - her hair being a vital element in it-mirrors the end of her journey of hardship and obstacles, “after she crawled her way out of the horror movie of her teenage / / years” (ibid.). Disciplined hair thus represents a version of LaTisha who has worked hard and is prepared to go further. Consequently, LaTisha’s disciplining perspective serves as a further example of the internalized perception that Black hair must be tamed, controlled, made smaller - in short, whiter (Craig 2006) - to become professional and to succeed. This is thus a further example of a colonial gaze at Black hair, of the contextualisation of the relationship between ‘disciplined’ Black hair and economic success. In conclusion, the combination of the depicted disciplinary perspectives at Black hair, realized through ‘showing and informing’, adds a further layer to Evaristo’s Black hair discourse: The relationship between socioeconomic upward mobility and disciplining Black hair extends across all socio-economic classes and levels of education, and, Black hair oppression, as an internalised form of racism and sexism, is dominant in institutions across the social spectrum-from supermarkets, to universities and international corporate banks. In the group celebrating Black hair in the novel, oppositional gazes concerning Black hair are portrayed. The act of celebrating Black hair is similarly diverse as that of disciplining hair in the previous group, encompassing a variety of approaches, ranging from descriptions of hair, over emotions in relation to hair, to hair practices. In these celebratory passages, feelings of admiration, attraction, and pride directed at Black hair (natural hair as well as Black hair styles) dominate. Black hair is, again, portrayed - through which showing takes place - and subsequently celebrated in one form or another. The act of celebrating hair is, through ‘informing’, contextualized in a way that the relevance or role of Black hair in both a specific and wider context is illustrated. For instance, Yazz describes her afro hair as “amazingly wild, energetic, strong and voluminous” (2019: 12) while her afro is blocking the view to the stage, Black feminist Nzinga is described as “spectacular” with her “ornamented dreadlocks” (2019: 81) when she appears in front of her future girlfriend Dominique for the first time, Meghan/ Morgans “shaved off” hair is “loved” (2019: 312) in an act of self-discovery, or Helen’s “looser hair” is “liked” (2019: 9) by African men. Again, to illustrate how aspects of Black hair politics are constructed through celebrating hair, two passage, covering Meghan/ Morgan und Helen, will be explored in more detail in the following. Sarah Back 178 The first passage describes Meghan’s hair act as a teenager before identifying as non-binary, adopting the pronouns they/ them, using the name Morgan, and becoming a social media gender-activist: “at sixteen she shaved off her hair to see what it felt like, loved / / running her hands over her new, low-maintenance bristle” (2019: 312). In the passage, which covers Meghan’s perspective, a shaved head is shown. Furthermore, two hair practices are celebrated: Meghan celebrates the act of touching her “lowmaintenance bristle” as well as the act of shaving off her hair. How can shaving off hair be an act of celebrating hair and why is this an example of an oppositional gaze at Black hair in regard to Black hair discourse? In a different section of the novel, Meghan is described as “publicly admired” and distinctly beautiful, partly due to her “blond corkscrew curls” (2019: 312). Consequently, when it comes to the act of shaving off hair in Meghan’s case, the structure of the hair is central: Meghan’s portrayed hair act is oppositional in her getting rid of “blond corkscrew curls.” Meghan/ Morgan, after identifying as non-binary, reflects on their upbringing, recalls being forced into a stereotypically female appearance by their (usually liberal) mother as a way of becoming socially acceptable as a biracial child, while feeling utterly uncomfortable in this gender performance. And, once puberty arrived, they experienced severe gender dysphoria. Consequently, Meghan’s depicted celebration of shaving off her hair can be read as an oppositional gaze at the heteronormative pressure to achieve ‘beautiful, female, hair’ as part of “normative femininity” (Bartky 1990: 80), which is, in Black women’s cases, also racialized (Dabiri 2021). Meghan’s celebration is therefore directed against her ‘beautiful, female’ hair that has, among other gendered aspects of her body, caused her so much pain. Long, ‘white’, hair is consequently presented as a heteronormative, eurocentric beauty ideal, which represents, in Meghan/ Morgan’s perspective, an immensely heavy burden. Meghan thus views the act of shaving off her hair-the celebration of ridding herself from her blond curls-as a liberating act, and the act stroking her shaved head as a form of falling in love with and rediscovering her true self-divorced from the present societal pressure concerning gendered hair, especially as a non-male person of colour. Meghan/ Morgan’s displayed gender dysphoria further intensifies that which is contributed to the Black hair discourse through this passage: Meghan/ Morgan’s struggles shed light on how the norms revolving around the socially constructed goal of being perceived as beautiful are not only racialized and gendered but also dominated by heteronormative structures (Deliovsky 2008; Rajan-Rankin 2021). Thus, through showing and informing, existing forms of societal-racist, sexist and heteronormative-pressure as well as anxieties connected to this aspect of the Black hair discourse are revealed. The second passage illustrating a celebratory perspective on Black hair and further version of an oppositional gaze, covers Helen, who, being one Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 179 of the few biracial young women in Scotland in the first half of the twentieth century, experienced difficulties of finding a husband. Amma, her daughter, recounts that Helen left Scotland young and moved to London, during a period when many young African men immigrated there. Helen went to African dance evenings and social clubs, where she, for the first time in her life, attracted male attention, as the African men present “liked her lighter / / skin and looser hair” (2019: 9). Furthermore, Helen is described as “half-caste” (ibid.), which was the common term used to describe a biracial person during that time. Concerning her own gaze at her appearance, according to Amma, Helen expressed that “she felt ugly until African men told her she wasn’t” (2019: 10). Consequently, Helen’s depicted perspective on her body serves as an initial step in this example of informing: The present colonial - eurocentric and patriarchal - gazes directed at mixed-race women in Britain during the first half of the twentieth century, which Helen had internalized by feeling ugly 4 , are revealed. Then, after having felt ugly, partly due to her hair, Helen’s suddenly “looser” hair is liked by some men. Consequently, hair is presented in a contextualized manner, as two contrasting gazes are applied at the same version of hair. This depicted act of celebratory gazing, which is oppositional to the gaze under which Helen grew up, is performed by African men. Being a mixed-race woman, Helen’s hair is looser than African women’s hair and is so situated in the context of global beauty hierarchies. Thus, mixed-race hair, which is, through these forms of gazing, portrayed as somewhat curly but not Afro hair, is presented as a bodily mirror of the global phenomenon of colourism (Tate & Fink 2019). As such, it reflects the fact that throughout Black communities and communities of colour, proximity to whiteness is valued as an ideal of beauty (Phoenix 2014). Furthermore, through the African men’s gaze, the celebration of Helen’s hair, the depicted eurocentric perspective at mixed-raced hair as ‘Black’ and thus ugly hair is juxtaposed with a perspective at beautiful, ‘looser hair,’ which can thus be defined as a reflection on the racial hierarchies grounded in constructions of race and their social and political consequences. As a result, this celebratory perspective on Helen’s biracial hair develops the Black hair discourse through an illustration of global hierarchies concerning the structure of Black hair to Evaristo’s hair discourse. The juxtaposition of two perspectives on the same hair type - devaluation by white men and celebration by African men - adds to the complexity, the present tensions and contractions of the discourse surrounding Black hair. In sum, these celebratory perspectives at biracial hair demonstrate the multiple factors that influence taste in hair or hair aesthetics. They reveal that, while 4 This gaze is, at a later point, juxtaposed by Amma’s description of her mother when she was young, namely a mix between Lena Horne und Dorothy Dandridge, who were famous actresses in Hollywood. Sarah Back 180 hair aesthetics are context-dependent, they are, at the same time, subject to universal, normative structures, and a significant amount of effort is involved in taking on oppositional perspectives. This renders the discourse on Black hair as presented by Evaristo in the novel an ambivalent, highly complex one. Altogether, it is apparent that in both disciplining and celebratory perspectives on hair, other voices and gazes than the portrayed individuals’ ones are involved in the construction of the characters’ attitudes, perspectives and practices concerning their hair: present hierarchies and institutionalized structures around Black hair in a global context are, throughout all instances, normative points of orientation. Furthermore, in the constructions of the Black hair discourse achieved through ‘showing and informing’ in the novel, the body plays a central role. The following discussion will attempt to pin down which versions of ‘body’ are involved in the construction of the Black hair discourse in the novel, and how the body can be read in these versions of showing and informing of/ about Black hair. Firstly, the physical body is involved in the construction of the discourse of Black hair in the novel. Rather than looking at the body as an assemblage of flesh and bone to which hair is attached and whose presence in the construction of the discourse is thus inevitable, ‘physical body’ is read in the sense of the lived body: one’s bodily, subjective experience (Ahmed 2007; Fanon 1952; Lehtinen 2014; Mooney 2022). The characters’ portrayed relationships to their/ or someone’s Black hair are, throughout the novel, ‘embodied’ ones, created through bodily experience. Often, bodily characteristics, bodily practices as well as the emotions and sensations (frequently subsequently expressed in attitudes/ opinions) tied to them - which are, in the novel, summarized as, e.g., determined, ugly, amazing, stupid, smart - are displayed in relation to Black hair. Assuming that “whiteness is lived as a background to experience” (Ahmed 2007: 150), and that, “in advance of our activities, we lean on core beliefs that none of us can avoid espousing” (Mooney 2022: 52), whiteness is a ubiquitous determiner of our western belief system. These very core beliefs, which frequently present themselves as pre-conscious (Shouse 2005) bodily manifestations, such as forms of affect, or in relation to external impulses (e.g., looking at someone’s hair), can be defined as symptoms of forms of “normative embodiment” (Foucault 1975/ 1988). In these, normative practices “inscribe power constellations and discourses into subjective experiences and bodies” (Wehrle abstract). And these very bodily manifestations contextualize the character’s physical and social situatedness (Aho 2009; Sheets-Johnstone 2020), as they stem from enlivened, internalized - embodied - experiences of, e.g., forms of racism, that are situated in the world (e.g., Black female embodiment [cf. Davis 1981]). In short, the variety of physical sensations that hair evoke tell their own stories, revealing causalities and narratives around Black hair inscribed, frequently by painful normative actions and practices, in our social surroundings. Consequently, Black hair is portrayed to be in Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 181 a symptomatic relationship to the socio-economic situatedness of both the body as object - the politized, racialized, gendered, body - and the body as subject, the lived body (Harraway 1988). Black hair, or what is done with it, can therefore be understood as the mirror of the localization of the physical body revealed through the lived body’s subjective experiences (affect, emotions, etc.). The body thus functions as the screen or canvas for the discourse in the novel. Secondly, in relation to the localisation of a - physical or lived - body and its situated knowledges (Harraway 1988), the body can also be read as the body of the women of colour community in London. This version of body is central, as it is a polyphone, located body, and, according to Donna Harraway, “location resists the politics of closure, finality, ‘simplification in the last instance’” (Harraway 1988: 590). Thus, “feminist embodiment resists fixation and is insatiably curious about the webs of differential positioning […] the goal is better accounts of the world” (ibid.). Also, because of the location and position of the characters - which is partly revealed through their emotions and perspectives on hair - and of the sum of these localized perspectives and situated knowledges, a body is formed, one that ‘speaks’, ‘narrates’. This holds especially true in the case of women of colour - from their personal experiences with both racism and sexism - and, out of these discussions, a Black feminist epistemology (as introduced by Patricia Hill Collins in 1990) was established, focussing on the body of knowledge and consciousness to achieve empowerment. Through this body - the lens of Hill Collins’ Black Women’s Standpoint Theory (2000) - the characters’ multiple and varying statements, attitudes and hair practices, according to Hill Collins, “provide us with a unique angle of vision concerning Black womanhood” (2000: 35) and thus on “self, community, and society,” (2000: 3) which, in this case, applies to the discourse of Black hair. In the course of this version of ‘informing’, the multiple perspectives (e.g., colonial, Eurocentric, communal, feminist) that have shaped Black hair discourse are revealed, in a manner that both enables to grasp the discourse through individual experiences and to map the discourse on a meta-level. In the interplay between those perspective then constructs this communal vision: “The knowing self is partial in all its guises, never finished, whole, simply there and original; it is always constructed and stitched together imperfectly, and therefore able to join with another, to see together without claiming to be another” (Haraway 1988: 586). Thus, “the construct of community operates within contemporary power relations of class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age, ability, nation, and race” (Hill Collins 2010: 7). In this way, the complex, multifaceted politics of Black hair is introduced through the individual women’s localized knowledge - in total, through the body of their community. In essence, the novel illustrates, discusses, and questions dominant, eurocentric logics about Black hair through the deliberate and well-chosen Sarah Back 182 gazes and the provision of context and information in relation to the characters, combined with and nested in the act of showing various varieties of, perspectives on, and practices connected to Black hair. Thus, by revealing many different realities in relation to Black hair, the complexity of the discourse and the complexity of the relationship between individuals and Black hair is revealed, as well as the fields of tension between something that is ‘part of someone’ (as hair is) and its politicization (both concerning systems of stigmatization and manners of using and wearing it in a way that could function as an act of liberation/ feminism/ or resistance). In short, the complexity and polyphony as well as the existing fields of tension of this discourse are shown through the body in the novel. 6. Transmedial adoptions & continuations: Evaristo’s “BEAM” (Sunday Times UK) In the following, the transmedial adoption and development of a discourse in Evaristo’s authorship will be exemplified by an examination of Black hair politics in Evaristo’s “BEAM”. which is an issue of the Sunday Times UK, guest edited by Evaristo and published - both in print and digitally - in July 2020. As Evaristo states in her editor’s letter, “BEAM” is an acronym for “Black Women Eternally Mainstream,” as this special issue exclusively features non-male people of colour with the aim of promoting them. Central in this issue are interviews with women of colour - the “talented creatives defining a more inclusive future and paving the way for revolutionary thinking” (Evaristo 2020: online) - and their visual presentation through portrait photographs. Again, Evaristo employs the method of ‘showing and informing’ to construct the discourse of Black hair in this medium. In this case, ‘showing’ aspects of the hair discourse and ‘informing’ about them is employed in different sections of “BEAM”. This way of employing the method helps to adopt Black hair politics transmedially and subsequently construct and develop the discourse intermedially (Rajewsky 2000) in the issue, namely in the course of “interactions and interplays” (Rajewsky 2013: 22) between Evaristo’s editor’s letter and further sections (portraits, interviews, etc.) of the issue. In “BEAM”, the discourse of Black hair politics is first mentioned in Evaristo’s editor’s letter, in which she introduces the project and explains the intentions behind dedicating this special issue exclusively to non-male people of colour. Evaristo opens the letter by referring to both Girl, Woman, Other and Black womanhood, providing a base for subsequent transmedial links to the discourse: “it was of utmost importance to me […] to make sure this issue put Black women in the spotlight and also to make it queerinclusive, much as I did with my novel Girl, Woman, Other” (Evaristo 2020: online). Having provided a contextual foundation by referring to Girl, Woman, Other, Evaristo subsequently establishes direct transmedial Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 183 connections to the discourse of Black hair politics: “The issue of Black women and our hair is big business, literally. Yomi Adegoke […] writes with pizzazz about the trend for the buzzcut among our women, and some of the brouhaha it attracts when women decide to shave or crop it down to the bone, and go from high to low maintenance” (ibid.). Hence, Evaristo explains that she has included an article about hair by Yomi Adegoke, author of Slay in Your Lane (2019), in her Times UK special issue, while at the same time, referring to the Black hair discourse in her novel Girl, Woman, Other. Evaristo develops her Black hair discourse in “BEAM” by referring to the novel, by creating a transmedial connection to the character Meghan/ Morgan. By stating in the letter how liberating it is to “go from high to low maintenance”, which is portrayed in a similar manner in the novel, as Meghan/ Morgan “loved / / running her hands over her new, low-maintenance bristle” (2019: 312) - as a way of freeing herself from the eurocentric, patriarchal and heteronormative pressure exerted by concepts of ‘female beauty’ from which she has suffered. Furthermore, in the letter, the liberating experience of wearing a shaved head as portrayed in the novel is, in the context of the global black hair industry, revisited by Evaristo, and directly addressed by stating that “our hair is big business, literally” (Evaristo 2020: online). Furthermore, Evaristo’s reference to another writer, Yomi Adegoke, whose work also addresses the topic of Black hair, not only extends Evaristo’s exploration of Black hair politics beyond the discourse established in her novel Girl, Woman, Other, but also reinforces the role of the body of the community in creating and shaping the discourse in this transmedial adoption. The article about Adegoke’s book in “BEAM”, referenced by Evaristo in her letter, addresses the politics of Black hair. Consequently, Evaristo’s discourse is not only expanded and developed through the diverse perspectives of characters from Evaristo’s imagination (a body of the community representing Evaristo’s interpretation of the discourse), but is also further developed from Adegoke’s standpoint, rendering it truly constructed by a collective body of the community - the multifaceted perspectives of women of colour from London. This renders Evaristo’s practice of ‘informing’ about the Black hair discourse a communal practice in this adoption. In addition, in the letter, Evaristo positions herself, her authorial figure and public persona, as directly affected by the Black hair discourse and addresses others affected (women and non-binary people of colour) in her appeals and arguments concerning Black hair. Evaristo consequently introduces the discourse through ‘informing’, personifies it by her direct appeal (we, our) and expands it by providing a link to a detailed article on Black hair by author Yomi Adegoke in the letter. Eventually, Evaristo refers to the portraits of the women and non-binary people of colour in this special issue, which play an important role in the transmedial adoption and the development of the Black Hair discourse in Sarah Back 184 “BEAM”. In the letter, Evaristo consequently creates a link to the portraits of the women covered in the issue, who, as stated in the magazine’s subtitle, are part of “Bernardine Evaristo’s future list” and exclusively “nominated by our guest editor” (ibid.). By establishing an intermedial connection to the section where the hair discourse is reflected visually, Evaristo (albeit indirectly) performs a version of ‘showing’. Evaristo contextualizes the discourse first in the editor’s letter and picks it up visually through the portraits of her chosen individuals. Thus, after having established a transmedial connection by referring to the discourse in her novel, Evaristo develops the Black hair discourse intermedially in “BEAM” by employing ‘showing and informing’ across sections of this issue, across the letter, Adegoke’s article, and the portraits of the featured individuals. The large and colourful portraits of the featured individuals are presented in combination with their cover stories, which, in many, cases, include short interview sections. Consequently, in this section of “BEAM”, similar to Girl, Woman, Other, multiple realities concerning Black hair, transmitted through the body of the community, a Black Woman’s Standpoint (Hill Collins 2000), are portrayed. In this case, however, the multiple perspectives on Black hair are visually revealed. As with the preceding section, in which Yomi Adegoke’s perspective on Black hair politics has been included in the act of ‘informing’, in this section Evaristo expands and develops the discourse by having the various personalities covered in “BEAM” present their Black hair styles. While in Girl, Woman, Other, the ‘shown’ versions of Black hair are firmly rooted in Evaristo’s imagination (crafted through her intellectual and creative endeavours), in this transmedial adoption, the act of ‘showing’ Black hair becomes a communal practice as well. For instance, a portrait of Yomi Adegoke with a shaved head, to whom Evaristo refers in the letter - to her book and the power of shaving one’s hair - is included here. Furthermore, natural Black hair - Afro hair - is portrayed, by covering poet Theresa Lola. Or, Black hair styles-in the form of long braided hair-are included through, for instance, the portrait of non-binary performer Travis Alabanza. This indicates that, in this particular case, the method of ‘showing’ - as was done in terms of ‘informing’ by including Adegoke’s perspective - is taken one step further. In contrast to the act of ‘showing’ Black hair in Girl, Woman, Other (where specific actions are performed on Black hair and where controlling and taming it is linked to success), in this section of “BEAM”, natural Black hair or Black hair styles are visually portrayed as crucial features of the presented successful individuals’ identities, encompassing their personalities or (public) roles. Therefore, in this transmedial adoption, the method of ‘showing’ Black hair styles in success stories of women of colour represents a new direction in Evaristo’s Black hair discourse, whereby Black hair styles can be seen as physical manifestations of the success models presented in this special issue (the transmedial adoption). Eventually, having previously po- Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 185 sitioned herself as part of the discourse (through ‘informing’), Evaristo visually includes herself in this section of “BEAM” as well. Therefore, Evaristo not only personifies the discourse in her editor’s letter through ‘informing’, but through ‘showing’ as well, namely by visually exemplifying Black hair through including an image of herself in the letter. In this way, Evaristo’s Black hair politics evolves and grows, in certain instances, in a manner in which the body of the community - as opposed to Evaristo - navigates the course of the discourse. Thus, Black hair politics is constructed by different versions of ‘showing and informing’ and transmitted through the body, both the physical body (the portrayed individuals as well as Evaristo’s), and, more than ever, through the body of the community, by having multiple voices visually ‘speak’ (show and inform) about Black hair. Although Evaristo is the decision-maker of what is displayed and covered in her capacity as editor and therefore establishes a foundation for the continuation and development of the discourse, she allows the discourse to be shaped by a communal voice. The discussed sections of “BEAM” thus serve as a conduit for both ‘showing’ and ‘informing’ about Black hair politics, in which the body of the community plays a key role. Altogether, Evaristo’s development of Black hair discourse in “BEAM” is similar to its construction in Girl, Woman, Other: In both cases, the discourse is contextualized (historically or transmedially), observed from a global perspective, and approached from different angles. Nevertheless, in “BEAM”, the transmedial adoption of Evaristo’s Black hair politics, the discourse is not only approached by Evaristo herself but is also evolving through multiple voices and points of view, thus rendering the discourse one that is shaped by collective experiences and perspectives of the community - thus, the body of the community. Moreover, both in the novel and in “BEAM”, a variety of Black hair is presented: in “BEAM”, this is realized through visual presentations of individuals wearing Black hairstyles, and in the novel, through descriptions of hair. While in “BEAM”, the celebrating perspectives of Black hair are at the centre, Evaristo still contextualises Black hair politics as a socio-political issue, as both cause and effect of global racialized and gendered forms of inequality and oppression. This narrative is thus, to quote Rajewsky, “realized differently […] specific to each medium” (2002: 12-3; [own translation]) with different media complementing each other and expanding Evaristo’s transmedial hair discourse. Evaristo’s Black hair politics is thus an example of how a “mediaunspecific discourse” is built and developed transmedially - “across media” (Jenkins 2011; Rajewsky 2013: 22), and in the case at hand, in close relationship with the body. Sarah Back 186 7. Conclusion Looking at the discourse of Black hair politics as presented in this paper, which versions of the body are involved? Firstly, it is the body of the Black female community. In Girl, Woman, Other, “unique angle[s]” (Hill Collins 2000: 35) and Situated Knowledges (Haraway 1988) build the discourse, and this polyphony is revisited in the visual portrayal of multiple voices in “BEAM”. Secondly, it is the physical body of characters in the novel, of the women shown in the images in “BEAM” as well as of Evaristo herself, through which Black hair discourse is developed intermedially and also transmitted transmedially. Thirdly, it is Evaristo’s authorial body - the vital role of her authorial figure in the construction of the discourse, in which the boundaries between the socio-political and the fictional, as well as between the literary work of the author and her activist engagement, are shown to be blurred. Transmedial discourses such as the politics of Black hair can therefore be seen as a building block with which Evaristo constructs her authorship project. In her intermedial ‘project Evaristo’, which is created transmedially and through such discourses, her authorial figure, her physical body and her works are almost inseparable. In the course of her intermedial authorship, and, with the help of many such transmedial discourses, Evaristo subjectifies herself as an author, activist, Black woman and intersectional feminist in the (post)digital realm. In sum, Evaristo’s embodied writing (writing [with/ on] the body) as demonstrated both in her novel Girl, Woman, Other and in her project “BEAM” can be described as an intersectional feminist subjectivation process. The eurocentric and androcentric tradition of separating mind and body, which justified European colonialism by othering the colonized as ‘body’ and therefore as uncivilized, which has particularly affected women of colour (Ahmed 2007; Hill Collins 2000), is thus countered. Consequently, by displaying the discourses enacted through and on the body, Evaristo exemplifies an intersectional feminist approach to digital authorship. The body-the authorial body, the physical/ lived body and the body of the community-is not merely a conduit for the dissemination and discussion of the discourses; it is also the site of their formation. Evaristo’s intersectional feminist authorship is embodied, and the digital realm provides a context in which authorship can be embodied, with the boundaries between authorship/ oeuvre and representation/ production becoming increasingly blurred (Yekani, Klawitter & König 2012: 32-33; [own translation]). Black hair politics as transmedia discourse in B. Evaristo’s authorship 187 8. References Ahmed, Sara (2007). A phenomenology of whiteness. Feminist Theory 8 (2): 168. https: / / doi.org/ 10.1177/ 1464700107078139. Aho, Kevin (2009). Heidegger’s Neglect of the Body (SUNY series in contemporary continental philosophy). SUNY series in contemporary continental philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press. Bartky, Sandra L. (1990). 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