Abstract
A woman’s face, dominated by a frightened, wide-eyed stare: Male hands reach out and pry her lips away from her teeth so that she seems to sneer beneath her petrified gaze. She is naked. The doctor begins describing her, as he continues to manipulate her body: “Rounded gums. [Clasping her jaw, turning her head from side to side:] Slight Prognathism. [Measuring nose with small ruler:] Nostrils arched. Nasiolabial space normal. [Simultaneously spreading her nostrils and flattening them against her face:] Septum slightly flattened. [More manipulations of her body parts continue, with accompanying comments:] Lower lip fleshy. Prognathous jaw typical of non-European races. Forehead narrow. Scalp low. Hair thick, oily, shiny. Ears normal—lobes not fixed, slanted. Upper eyelids drooping. Skin swarthy. Hips naturally large and flaccid. Soles of the feet flat—arch totally absent.”
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© 2003 Brenda Dixon Gottschild
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Gottschild, B.D. (2003). Latitude II. In: The Black Dancing Body. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-03900-2_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-03900-2_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-7121-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-03900-2
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