‘Black is beautiful’, and Indigenous: Aboriginality and authorship in Australian popular music

Abstract

The ‘black is beautiful’ movement began in the United States in the early 1960s, and changed mainstream attitudes towards the body, fashion and personal aesthetics, gaining African-American people a new sense of pride in being – and being called – ‘black’. In Australia the movement also had implications for changing the political meanings of ‘black’ in white society. However, it has not been until the last decade, through the global influence of Afro-American music, that a distinctly Indigenous sense of black sexiness has captured the attention of mainstream audiences. This article examines such recent developments, and suggests that, through the appropriation of Afro-American aesthetics and styles, Indigenous producers and performers have developed new forms of Indigenous public agency, demonstrating that black is beautiful, and Indigenous.

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