Ndlazi, Adelaide Nozipho.Khama, Sinqobile.2025-10-302025-10-3020242024https://hdl.handle.net/10413/24007Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.This study explores how Black African women in South Africa view beauty, with an emphasis on how colonial and post-colonial social norms have shaped their sense of self. With a focus on the ways that Eurocentric ideals, disseminated through media, culture, and social structures, have shaped and, in some cases, distorted, the self-concept and body image of African women, this study employs a qualitative methodology with an exploratory design, seeking to understand how older and younger generations of African women define and experience beauty. Two focus groups were formed each consisting of six participants. One focus group comprised older women who experienced apartheid, and the other with younger women who grew up in the years following the end of apartheid. Through the use of semi-structured focus group discussions, each participant was asked to consider how they saw pictures of African women in the media today and how their ideas of beauty had changed. By using thematic analysis to analyse the data, important themes and patterns in the participant narratives were identified. Key findings suggest an ongoing conflict between Eurocentric norms and traditional African beauty ideals, especially when it comes to skin tone, body size, and hair. The elderly participants favoured Eurocentric traits like lighter complexion and smaller bodies, influenced by ideals from the colonial era. On the other hand, the student participants, who were younger in age, demonstrated an increasing desire to embrace natural African traits including dark skin, bigger bodies, and natural hair while being heavily exposed to Western beauty standards through social media. Nonetheless, a significant number of younger individuals encountered coercion to adhere to Western norms, suggesting a persistent internal struggle between embracing African beauty ideals and universal ideals of beauty. This demonstrates the generational shift in views of beauty and the ongoing effects of media and society on African women's identities and self-esteem. By highlighting the internal and external pressures Black African women endure, this research contributes to the limited literature on African beauty. In the face of globalised Eurocentric norms, it highlights the significance of fostering inclusive and diverse beauty standards that validate the identities and self-esteem of African women. This study, viewed through the lens of social constructivism, highlights the intricate relationship among beauty, identity, and self-worth in African countries, providing fresh perspectives on how these women negotiate the contradictory signals surrounding beauty in the contemporary world.enCC0 1.0 Universalhttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/African beauty ideals.African women.Beauty standards.Eurocentrism.Thesis