Embodying racism: race, rhinoplasty, and self-esteem in Venezuela.
In this article, I examine how race motivates women's decisions to undergo aesthetic rhinoplasty in Caracas, Venezuela. Through a combination of cultural domain analysis and thematic analysis of qualitative interviews, I explore how the preference for whiteness and associated facial features dovetail with the aesthetic ideals promoted by cosmetic surgeons. Rhinoplasty is offered by physicians and interpreted by patients as a resolution to body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem. The clinical ethos of objectivity established by cosmetic surgeons fails to acknowledge how perceptions of the self and body are strongly tied to racial marginalization: patients' efforts to alter the nose reveal attempts to change not only how the body looks, but how it is lived. As a result, cosmetic surgery only acts as a stop-gap measure to heighten one's self-esteem and body image.
Dartmouth College, Department of Anthropology, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA. Lauren.E.Gulbas@Dartmouth.edu
Lauren E
LE
Gulbas
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology; D003657:Decision Making; D004954:Esthetics / Q000523:psychology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D063505:Racism / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012225:Rhinoplasty / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D014687:Venezuela; D055815:Young Adult