BBC OS Conversations: Colourism

Documentaries

The issue of colourism was highlighted in a recent BBC news report about a Nigerian woman who bleached the skin of her six young children leaving them with discoloured skin, burns and scars. It is a form of racism where light skin is more highly valued than dark skin amongst people of the same ethnic group.
In our conversations, we hear from women who share experiences of colourism in India including Chandana who has faced colourism from an early age:
“I was six or seven years old when I would first hear these conversations of my relatives saying that she’s a dark-skinned girl and you will have to pay a lot more dowry to get married and it will be such a struggle to find a husband for her.”
We also bring together two black women who work in the fashion and beauty industry, where appearance is everything. Beauty journalist, Ateh, shares her experiences of colourism with Nyakim, a Sudanese American model known as Queen of the Dark after her naturally dark skin tone.
Presenter: Luke Jones
BBC producer: Iqra Farooq
Boffin Media producer: Richard Hollingham
An EcoAudio certified Boffin Media production in partnership with the OS team.
(photo: Campaigner Chandana Hiran. Credit: Chandana Hiran)