View Larger Ubuhle by Loyiso Mkungela
“Ubuhle” is a word found in both of South Africa’s most prominent Nguni languages , isiXhosa and isiZulu. The word means ‘beauty’ in both languages. It is pronounced kind of like so “Oo-boo-tle” (with a rattling sound at the beginning of the last syllable). The concept of (feminine) African beauty, varies from country to country around the post-colonial African continent and from person to person, with the concept sometimes also being influenced heavily by Western standards of beauty due to colonisation.The article in picture is titled: “Dynamic Beauty: Cultural Influences and Changing Perceptions - Becoming Prettier or Erasing One’s Own Culture” by Christopher Frazier. It was somewhat of an inspiration behind me asking thousands of people what African beauty is.
