Beyoncé as an Advocate for Black Women's Rights. Who Run the World? Girls? (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, University of Bonn, language: English, abstract: This paper aims to show how the representation of a black female body in media influences the self-perception of black women in order to call attention to the sexualisation of black female bodies that still prevails in pop culture. Moreover, this paper seeks to shed light to the struggle of being black in a white supremacist culture. Beyoncé is the most influential black pop artist and she struggles to keep a balance between her success and her black cultural identity which causes a discrepancy between her self-identification and her self-representation evoking issues in her authenticity as a feminist. It will hence be analysed in how far Beyoncé manages empower black women through her representation as an artist on stage and off stage and to what extent the pop culture she finds herself in influences this representation. Additionally, it will be examined in how far this influence on her self-representation affects the credibility of her feminist commitment.

In order to do so, the paper subdivides into three main parts. The following chapter will offer a short introduction to feminist thought and especially black feminism, as the latter will be the main focus of the analysis. The third chapter will focus on the perception and status of black culture and bodies in contemporary pop culture. In chapter four, the actual analysis of Beyoncé as an advocate for black women will be provided in three subchapters.

In doing so, her struggle between black identity and white pop culture as well as the consequences for her representation shall be regarded. The first subchapter will have its focus on the black feminist thought of Beyoncé's songs Formation and Flawless. Secondly, the representation of female bodies in contemporary pop music videos will be analysed by scrutinising Beyoncé's video for her song Partition as well as the lyrics. Lastly, the influence of white supremacy on Beyoncé's hairstyle will be examined regarding the significance of hair(styles) in black beauty and culture.