BEAUTY; SUNDURA; BEAUTÉ

The Oxford English Dictionary has eight different definitions for the word beauty. These varied explanations for the same notion speak to how relative beauty is, changing from culture to culture and person to person. Anissa Joonas ’13 is from Mauritius, a small island off the southeast coast of Africa. I chose to interview my housemate for [in]Visible Magazine because her perspective is such a demonstration of the ever-changing nature of body image.

How would you describe your cultural background?

My father is Mauritian of Indian decent and my mother is American Anglo-Saxon. I personally consider myself neither exclusively, but a combination of both.

Due to the varied population of Mauritius, I feel connected to so many different cultures. Everyone at home has distinct ancestry: French colonist, Chinese, African, Danish, Indian, and American. Ultimately, everyone identifies as being part of the Mauritian community first and another culture second.

What I think differentiates the Mauritian mentality from the American is the constant respect for, admiration of, and constant interaction with each separate culture’s contribution to life in Mauritius.

What are your spiritual beliefs?

My mother and father come from two seemingly distinct religions, Christianity and Islam, but we were always told as children that they are both relevant to the way we live our lives. While I don’t know the prayers from either faith by heart, I recognize the connection I feel every time I hear them. I have had to figure out the “in-between” for myself. I believe in something. It is not a belief in a God, per se. For me, it is more of recognition of the power of the universe.

The way my family begins each meal reflects the several influences, cultural and spiritual, that make us who we are. We begin by reciting a sentence in Arabic from the Qur’an, then a sentence in Sanskrit inspired by our studies in meditation, followed by “Bless this meal” in English, and ultimately ending with the French idiom “Bon Appétit.”

How does spirituality affect your own body image?

As a kid, I felt self-conscious about how tall and gangly I was. But I have learned to really like difference. I like coming from a country that has so many different standards of beauty because then there is no pressure to fit into one mold. In Mauritius, even if you think you could be 15 pounds overweight, too tall, too dark, too pale, you will be someone else’s ideal of beauty.

I feel like here in America, women are getting the same surgeries to “fit” into their definition. That just doesn’t happen in Mauritius. It’s more about accepting what you naturally are.

How do you think coming from a country with such varied and distinct perspectives of beauty has shaped your own?

I have taken a bit of everything from it. The diverse environment also made me realize that beauty is so subjective. If everyone has a different ideal for what is beautiful, then it cannot be a fixed point.

In observing Mauritians, Western expatriate, Creoles, Franco-Mauritian, Hindus, Muslims, Chinese; I find that what I think is beautiful is something that doesn’t obviously fit into one group, but is something more mysterious that transcends immediate identification or association. I think the reason I view beauty in this light is because Mauritius is populated with such a range of people who all live and interact together so that the distinctions between cultures is sometimes blurred because the population is mostly of mixed descent.

An example of this is the recent Miss Mauritius. Her father is from Belgium and her mother is Mauritian. She was chosen by the Mauritian public to be their definition of beauty for that year; she is a representation the mix of cultures that is Mauritius.

You have been part of the professional modeling world. Elaborate on how that experience made you think about body image in both a universal and personal sense.

I modeled in Mauritius, where there is a huge variety of models in the scene. Some had blonde hair and blue eyes, while others were African. Models in Mauritius would not necessarily be able to model in America.

There is a certain amount of pressure to be thin when we were sometimes modeling for international companies, but it was an external expectation outside Mauritian standards. In Mauritius, they need variety; they seek out diversity in their agencies. They could in no way be successful without a range of looks because one model alone cannot appeal to all of the various beauty ideals present in Mauritian culture.

Do you have a favorite body part?

That’s a hard one. I think I have to pick the dimples on the small of my back, because they’re hidden. They’re kind of mysterious and fun; just that little something. I love that they can’t be altered. I can’t fix them; I just have had to accept them. And now I’ve grown to love them.

When do you feel most confident in your own body image?

When I am happy. When I am happy, everything feels more beautiful, including me.