Lanita Jacobs-Huey is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and co-affiliated with the Program in American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

This work is not only deeply original but it is also brave: Jacobs-Huey has tackled a range of issues that are highly charged, both in the arena of racial politics and, even trickier for her, in negotiating her own place in multiple communities of practice. That she so successfully balances the scholarly, the political, and the personal is testament to her rare combination of considerable analytic talent with keen political and emotional intelligence.

• Introduction: From the Kitchen to the Parlor 1: Negotiating Expert and Novice Identities through Client-stylist Interactions 2: "We Are Like Doctors": Socializing Cosmetologists into the Discourse of Science 3: A License to Touch: Cosmetology as a Divine Calling 4: Gender, Authenticity, and Hair in African American Stand-up Comedy 5: "BTW, How Do You Wear Your Hair?": Gender and Race in Computer-mediated Hair Debates 6: Constructing and Contesting Knowledge in Women's Cross-cultural Hair Testimonies 7: Critical Reflections on Language, Gender, and "Native" Anthropology Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Lanita Jacobs-Huey is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and co-affiliated with the Program in American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

This work is not only deeply original but it is also brave: Jacobs-Huey has tackled a range of issues that are highly charged, both in the arena of racial politics and, even trickier for her, in negotiating her own place in multiple communities of practice. That she so successfully balances the scholarly, the political, and the personal is testament to her rare combination of considerable analytic talent with keen political and emotional intelligence.

• Introduction: From the Kitchen to the Parlor 1: Negotiating Expert and Novice Identities through Client-stylist Interactions 2: "We Are Like Doctors": Socializing Cosmetologists into the Discourse of Science 3: A License to Touch: Cosmetology as a Divine Calling 4: Gender, Authenticity, and Hair in African American Stand-up Comedy 5: "BTW, How Do You Wear Your Hair?": Gender and Race in Computer-mediated Hair Debates 6: Constructing and Contesting Knowledge in Women's Cross-cultural Hair Testimonies 7: Critical Reflections on Language, Gender, and "Native" Anthropology Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Lanita Jacobs-Huey is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and co-affiliated with the Program in American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

This work is not only deeply original but it is also brave: Jacobs-Huey has tackled a range of issues that are highly charged, both in the arena of racial politics and, even trickier for her, in negotiating her own place in multiple communities of practice. That she so successfully balances the scholarly, the political, and the personal is testament to her rare combination of considerable analytic talent with keen political and emotional intelligence.

• Introduction: From the Kitchen to the Parlor 1: Negotiating Expert and Novice Identities through Client-stylist Interactions 2: "We Are Like Doctors": Socializing Cosmetologists into the Discourse of Science 3: A License to Touch: Cosmetology as a Divine Calling 4: Gender, Authenticity, and Hair in African American Stand-up Comedy 5: "BTW, How Do You Wear Your Hair?": Gender and Race in Computer-mediated Hair Debates 6: Constructing and Contesting Knowledge in Women's Cross-cultural Hair Testimonies 7: Critical Reflections on Language, Gender, and "Native" Anthropology Appendix: Transcription Conventions