Rhinoplasty, Race and Identity in Brazil : The Politics of Female Beauty

The book examines the experiences of newly economically empowered Afrodescendant Brazilian women as they try to access beauty despite the boundaries of race, class and gender. It explores the role of the cosmetic surgeon and the patient/consumer in Brazil in relation to the nariz negroide, a commonly used and racialised medical term in Brazilian cosmetic rhinoplasty.

Based on ethnographically-informed research conducted from 2017 to 2022, including interviews and social media content analysis, this book examines connections between power and practice as evidenced by cosmetic surgeons in their role as cultural intermediaries, thereby exploring the racialised anomalies and paradoxes that bifurcate Brazilian women’s experiences through the racial framing of the practice of rhinoplasty.

Given this context, the book gives clear voice to the complex motivations, experiences and outcomes of Afrodescendant Brazilian women as they try to realise the national mantra that “the poor have a right to beauty”.