Beautiful Ugly

While the issue of beauty has recently resurfaced after a long silence in Europe and North America, this is the first book of its kind to tackle the subject of beauty in Africa. The essays suggest that the concept of beauty cannot be understood without a simultaneous understanding of the idea of ugliness. Writtten by continental and diasporic scholars, essays focus on sculpture, photography,art, music, fiction, food, clothing and urban design. Contributors include William Kentridge, Achille Mbembe, Simon Gikandi and Mia Couto.

Sarah Nuttall is a senior researcher at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the coeditor of Johannesburg—The Elusive Metropolis; Negotiating the Past: The Making of Memory in South Africa; Senses of Culture: South African Culture Studies; and Text, Theory, Space: Land, Literature, and History in South Africa and Australia.