The debate began when I received an online petition requesting that I and Pretoria High School for Girls’ headmistress Karen du Toit ensure the school’s code of conduct did not discriminate against black and Asian girls.
The petition also requested that disciplinary action be taken against teachers and staff who had implemented racist policies or racist actions, while demanding that pupils who had protested about the school’s hair policy should not be victimised.
As I was driving to the school to meet the pupils and teachers, the history and politics of hair haunted me.
It dawned on me how hair played an important role in a lot of cultures and religions.
For example, the Sikh religion tells men and women never to cut their hair. Many Orthodox Jewish women cover their hair.
In the 1980s and 1990s I was one of those who wore my hair in an Afro to represent black power.
Hippies wore their hair long as a sign of rebellion, and punk rockers had rebellious hairstyles.
Oh, and lest we forget, hair is also big business. Hair plays on a mix of our deepest fears and fantasies through the sale of shampoos, conditioners, colouring agents and other such products, while the cosmetics and toiletries industry rakes in millions, even billions, of rand a year.
I remembered how hairstyles had been a symbol of oppression and resistance, and a mark of freedom and individuality.
I remembered how, growing up in Tembisa, we saw the chemical alteration of black hair as an attempt to transform a black body into a white body. This attitude led to the explosion in natural hairstyles, such as braids and cornrows.
And how could I forget the emergence of dreadlocks during the anti-apartheid era as part of the rise of the Rastafari religion?
To have natural hair, despite the inferior connotations assigned to it in the past, has long been connected with self-pride for black people.
Of course, the cultivation of natural hair into twisted strands was a meaningful aesthetic that connected wearers with their African heritage.
Afros and dreadlocks were mechanisms to remind black people of their self-worth.
Yet, despite the long history of black hairstyles and resistance to the denigration of a black identity, the decisions black women make about their hairstyles can still cause consternation, as we saw this week in Pretoria.
During my meeting with the teachers, pupils, parents and members of the school governing body, it was clear black women felt their hair was a God-given asset they are born with, regardless of whether it met the beauty or code of conduct standards of broader society.
Some black women are spiritual in their approach to their hair, while others embrace the versatility offered by commercial products.
This week, I learnt that in a world where most of us feel our hair is so much more than just hair, for girls and women their hair is a major statement about who they are. They don’t feel that way about their eyes, noses and ears.
But their hair affords this constant opportunity to define and redefine themselves. Not just politically. Hair transcends our politics. It’s their persona.
There is no doubt the hair debate is about much than about hair. It is about how we deal with social cohesion after years of apartheid rule.
I will never forget how the pupils related the incidents they experienced at the school.
They spoke about how they were insulted and manhandled, how some were called monkeys, a dirty k-word, that Afro hair was likened to a bird’s nest and some were given a brush and told to look at themselves in the mirror and neaten themselves up, how teachers found it offensive when they spoke to their friends in their mother tongue and how they were told to stop making funny noises.
Now we know that hair is much more than a physical attribute and is loaded with significance in our cultures, what is the way forward?
The class-based nature of our society, increasing social inequality and the lingering legacy of apartheid’s divisiveness in all aspects of social life mean we need to work hard at social cohesion projects.
Our diversity challenges the way we view and value differences and recognise commonalities.
Common belonging is reflected in the acceptance of the diversities in the mainstream of daily activities.
But accepting diversity challenges the community to review its cultural heritage and identity and to redefine an identity as being inclusive and acceptable.
As a province we are working hard to enhance social cohesion.
The Group of Eminent Persons in the Premier’s Office, assisted by the Department of Basic Education’s Social Cohesion Branch, is dealing with social cohesion, race relations, and diversity management.
As pupils, parents and teachers we need to reaffirm our commitment to peaceful coexistence because, at the end of the day, those we disagree with are our fellow countrymen and women.
In our schools, the clearest evidence is in a class where children will not sit with others not of the same ethnic background unless they are forced by teachers to do so.
When children in class sit together, it means sharing the same workspace. This includes sharing books and pencils, checking out each other’s answers, celebrating and dancing together and even learning each other’s dance moves.
This is a means of establishing relationships through learning, playing and working with others from a different ethnic background and will provide the bonds that endure.
After all, the school environment, where children spend one fourth of their life every day for at least 12 years, is ideally positioned to showcase a harmonious society.
The teachers, who are in the front line of social cohesion duty, must themselves become knowledgeable about other cultures at a broader level than just the obvious cultural symbols such as arts and attire, let alone hair-styles.
I accept that teachers who teach in a culturally homogenous environment, or who are from homogenous backgrounds, may not themselves be exposed to other cultures and, therefore, are not able to educate children to appreciate other cultures.
However, they need to be taught culturally sensitive approaches when teaching or discussing issues such as hair.
The role of all teachers in promoting social cohesiveness cannot be limited to a few subjects or a few activities in a year.
Lesufi is Gauteng MEC for Education.
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
The Sunday Independent
from Hairstylez http://cityhairstyle.xyz/its-my-hair-i-can-show-it-grow-it-or-put-it-in-dreadlocks-independent-online/
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