School Hair Codes, Colonial Respectability, And Caribbean Rights with amílcar peter sanatan

School Hair Codes, Colonial Respectability, And Caribbean Rights with amílcar peter sanatan

From Strictly Facts: A Guide to Caribbean History and Culture by Alexandria Miller

December 10, 2025 · 43 min · Episode 122

About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of grooming rules on Black and Brown bodies in the Caribbean, exploring their colonial roots and the ongoing debates surrounding them.

Send us a text message and tell us your thoughts. A school bans “edges,” a graduation blocks braids, a child with locks is told to stay home—on the surface, they’re dress code debates. Look closer and you see a lineage of power: colonial respectability, “imperial cleanliness,” and the policing of Black and Brown bodies through hair. We sit down with artist, educator, and gender rights advocate amilcar sanatan to map how grooming rules took root, why they persist, and what it takes to change t...

People in this episode

Host: Alexandria Miller

Guest: amilcar sanatan

Topics covered

  • hair codes
  • colonial respectability
  • Caribbean rights
  • grooming rules
  • Black and Brown bodies

Keywords

  • hair codes
  • colonial respectability
  • Caribbean rights
  • grooming rules
  • Black bodies
  • Brown bodies
  • education
  • society

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