I. Veiling and Orientalism

A. Perceptions of veiling

1. Gender
2. Social status in encounter between veiled and unveiled person
3. Sexuality
4. Power

B. Legacies of Orientalism

1. Veiling is sign of Middle Eastern/Islamic "otherness"
2. Connected with harems, eunuchs, female seclusion, and polygamy
3. Western feminists: patriarchy, women's backwardness, subordination, and oppression
4. Connected with gender seclusion

C. Scholarship on veiling

1. Historical
2. Sociological
3. Anthropological

D. Veiling versus the veil
E. Veiling in the ancient Middle East and Mediterranean

1. At least 17 Arabic terms for veils and other items of clothing: diversity of practices and meanings
2. Sumeria: complementarity, women have household keys on head cloths
3. Persia: veiling connected to social, marital status, exclusivity, privilege, respectability
4. Greece: strict gender separation and inequality
5. Egypt: gender equality, no seclusion, women own property
6. Byzantine society: Christian, gender seclusion, women as seductresses who must cover selves
7. Women's low status and seclusion comes from West and Christianity, not Islam

 

II. Veils and Privacy

A. Projecting public-private sphere cross-culturally

1. West: gendered, hierarchical, rigid spaces
2. Women's veiling interpreted as maintaining rigid seclusion, female inferiority, keep them "at home" in public spaces, invisible

B. Opposing claims

1. Women go out in public
2. Public/private isn't about space, it's about deportment and behavior; fluid, not rigid distinction
3. Private spaces are sacred, higher status, demand respect and protection

C. The privacy of veiling

1. Transforms public into sacred private space, just like men's prayer
2. Privacy as a privilege
3. Veiling allows a woman to be private and yet seen, to control the process of seeing

D. Veiling as public metaphor for women's guardianship of sacred private spaces, more common among higher status groups, women as respected and inaccessible

 

III. Veiling and Kinship

A. Veiling varies according to maturity and social status
B. Veiling as communicative act: example of typical veiling encounter

1. Ursula Sharma's (1978) account of Himalayan women scurrying to cover selves seen as sign of inferiority, embarrassment, shame
2. Fadwa El Guindi (1999): communicates ideas of kinship

a. Natal village, issue of exogamy
b. Caste
c. Women control meaning of encounter by using veiling to communicate relative status

C. Veiling is about social encounters between people and their relative relationships

1. Men often cover selves when they encounter women
2. Tuareg men's veiling: the higher the status, the higher and tighter the veil

D. Veiling as a sign of the wearer's power

 

IV. Veiling, Colonialism, and Global Politics: The Hijab Movement

A. Over past 3-5 decades, veiling or hijab (head covering, long gown) is increasingly popular among Muslims
B. Veiling puzzles

1. World is getting more Westernized, yet women veiling
2. World is getting more modern, but veiling is traditional
3. Women veiling tend to be educated students and professionals

C. Salma Yaqoob, psychotherapist of Pakistani origin who was born and raised in England: "I started wearing the hijab at 18, having seen how western women were sexually exploited and pressurised to look attractive. The hijab gave me modesty, energy and permission to be myself" (From http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/I/islam_unveiled/voices_t.html#2.)
D. Origins of hijab in Egypt-Israeli conflict

1. Egypt's defeat in Six Day War, 1967
2. Egypt's victory over Israel during Ramadan, 1973
3. Islam under siege ==> wear austere clothing, behave conservatively

E. Koran: hijab as modest, protect women of status, particularly prophet's family
F. Islamic dress forms

1. Men: loose garments (shirt, pants, or long gown), beard
2. Women: hijab, gown and head cover

G. No seclusion, voluntary practice, spread throughout society
H. Goals of movement: reject Western materialism, consumerism, commercialism, and moral values

1. Concern about growing Israeli power
2. Concern about secularizing movements in Egypt, Iran, and other countries with Muslim populations

 

V. Hijab as Resistance

A. Algeria

1. France promoted unveiling as sign of modernity
2. Veiling became anti-colonial

B. Iran

1. 1930s-1970s: regime discouraged hijab in schools, hotels, restaurants
2. Western-educated elites criticize hijab as backward
3. Hijab becomes form of resistance to Westernization
4. 1979: Islamic Revolution makes hijab compulsory

C. Veiling as Islamic feminism

1. 1920s: unveiling seen as liberating
2. Today: voluntary veiling can be about liberation from commodified, objectified forms of sexualization, assertion of women's piety and power
3. Islamic women need Islamic form of liberation within context of Islam: value sanctity of home, inherent differences between men and women
4. Is argument that veiling oppresses women Orientalist?