Abstract
While I was as intrigued as the next person by the events surrounding Hugh Grant, Divine Brown and Liz Hurley in June 1995, what I became increasingly fascinated by were the ways in which these events were interpreted and (re)presented within the public and media landscape. At the heart of these interpretations/(re)presentations were the racialised notions and constructions of femininity, gender and sexuality. Significantly, this racialisation process occurred not only in terms of Divine Brown’s blackness but equally in terms of Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley’s whiteness. This chapter seeks to explore the social constructions of white and black1 femininities and the relation of these to ideologies of race, national identity and belonging in populist discourse.2
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© 1999 British Sociological Association
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Neal, S. (1999). Populist Configurations of Race and Gender: the Case of Hugh Grant, Liz Hurley and Divine Brown. In: Brah, A., Hickman, M.J., Mac an Ghaill, M. (eds) Thinking Identities. Explorations in Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375963_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375963_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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