Michelle Obama's arms in spotlight

[caption id="attachment_41727" align="alignright" width="200"] RACE AND CULTURE: Shirley Tate will present a paper on Michelle Obama's arms on Thursday at NMMU[/caption]

THEY are toned, envied by women all over the world and will be the topic of discussion at a seminar at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University this week.

Dr Shirley Tate, a professor in race and culture and the director of the Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies at the University of Leeds, will on Thursday present her paper on Michelle Obama's arms and why they are sometimes a controversial topic.

The paper is titled Michelle Obama's arms: Race, Respect and Class Privilege and will be part of the university's Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy's monthly seminar series.

In her abstract of the paper, the professor, who has also lectured on black beauty and had talks focused on natural and unnatural hair, looks at how the US first lady's arms have affected how she is perceived in the world.

"The struggle over Michelle Obama's 'right to [bear] bare arms' illustrates the USA is far from being post-race as the respectable femininity of the first lady is still judged from the position of white, middle/upper class privilege.

"The intense media debate on her body makes us wonder: How is 'the exotic' being used to keep Obama in her place as black?

"How can recognisable glamour remove the first lady from the public space of the black woman's body as 'the Black Venus'?

"How can the first lady's arms have such affective power?"

The professor, who also wrote What makes black a political colour: a note on street credibility, wrote that thinking about these questions led to thinking of Michelle Obama as a body out of place, made thus through exoticism and fetishisation.

Tate will be presenting her full paper at the North Campus on Thursday at 2pm. - Thulani Gqirana