Select annotated bibliography entry
Johnson, Paul Michael. “At First Blush: Race, Rouge, and the Transnational Performance of Turning Red.” Renaissance Quarterly 78, no. 1 (2025): 65–94.
Taking up transnational exchanges linking Europe, East Asia, and North America between the 16th century and the 21st century, this article traces cosmetic practices and their afterlives in contemporary media. It argues that rouge operates as a marker of racial difference, with the visibility of blushing a part of the construction of whiteness. Johnson examines how Black Africans used rouge in performance, and how the notion of “turning red” shaped performances of visibility, femininity, and difference across time.
