HAIR CLUB teaches at the bologna.lab at Humboldt University in Berlin

HAIR CLUB goes international, teaching a class on Hair at Humboldt University in Berlin. The bologna.lab is a unique space within Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, established to open up conversations around innovative teaching structures and collaborative classroom experimentation. Within the spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration, HAIR CLUB proposed a course on Hair and so graduate scholars and undergraduate students across academic disciplines gathered to discuss Hair in all its forms. The students brought their own areas of expertise and interests ranging from Environmental Biology, History, British Literature, Health Systems, and American Studies, to Psychology and Child Development to the conversation, which culminated with extended student presentations and the first draft of academic essays on their chosen topic. We were blown away by the new narratives brought to hair, bolstered our archive with new essays, articles, and objects related to hair in history and culture, and shared personal stories related to hair, identity, sexuality, religion, and heritage. Notable student projects included an analysis of hair washing in popular German children's literature, an exploration of the impact of hair and hair extensions on the environment, a breakdown of Beyonce's Feminism through a deep analysis of Lemonade (2017) and the writings of bell hooks, an examination of the history of shampoo and its use over time, including a changing cultural understanding of personal cleanliness and the cost of that change on the environment, an analysis of the many significances of Grey Hair as regards aging and power in popular media, from Cruella Deville to Storm from X-Men. It was incredible to officially move the conversation to a global scale, embarking on this European adventure with Hair Club.