Beauty banned: navigating aesthetic citizenship in Rwandan borderlands

Abstract

This article contributes to the discourse on aesthetic citizenship within the context of recent policy shifts in Rwanda. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in 2019, I examine two recent import bans of beauty products affecting second-hand fashion and skin-whitening cosmetics, which have had significant implications for the everyday aesthetic practices of Rwandan sex workers. While both initiatives were ostensibly progressive, with the rejection of donated clothing from the West and the prohibition of hazardous cosmetics, these policies have had profound consequences for those whose livelihoods rely on aesthetic labour as a means of social currency. Utilizing the concept of ‘aesthetic citizenship’, I examine how post-genocide Rwanda has expanded its pursuit of creating a harmonious state to include regulations with aesthetic ramifications. Against this backdrop, I demonstrate that by challenging the state-upheld notions of appearance, my sex-worker interlocutors expanded their aesthetic belonging and consumption beyond Rwanda, navigating their aesthetic desires in its borderlands.