Decolonizing Black beauty: Making a Yorùbá Queen in Ile Ife, Nigeria

The Queen Moremi Ajasoro (QMA) cultural and leadership pageant is rooted in Yorùbá consciousness and cultural heritage. The QMA introduces contestants to Yorùbá histories, myths and cultural values, emphasizing a holistic conception of both Iwa (‘moral character’) and Ewa (‘beauty’). The pageant provides a space not only for the interpretation of Yorùbá knowledge systems but also for cultural empowerment and preservation. This article explores how the QMA pageant offers a way to negotiate and challenge colonial-based, social hierarchies in the conception of beauty in the contemporary Nigerian state. At the same time, the pageant also reinforces some European beauty standards. We examine the dynamics and interplay of western cultural domination, Nigerian multiethnic state politics and traditional culture through the making of a Yorùbá Queen.