A Sartorial Afterword
A SARTORIAL AFTERWORD In May 2016, Britain witnessed Sadiq Khan, born to Pakistani migrants, becoming London’s frst Muslim mayor. Following the investiture cer- emony at Southwark Cathedral, certain right-wing voices used social media to turn the spotlight on Khan’s Muslim faith in a mean-spirited manner, criticising his wife, Saadiya Ahmed, for only putting on the hijab after the election victory. However, as it immediately became apparent in the international media, the woman to whom they were referring— and whose picture was used as evidence—was not Saadiya, but rather the Muslim writer and broadcaster Sarah Joseph, who was also at Southwark Cathedral and who reacted swiftly to this erroneously grounded social media vociferation. In addition to the string of prejudiced implications underlying it, this hijab-centred incident attests to the current obsession with the hijab in Western societies. It is also symptomatic of the scru- tiny to which the Muslim dressed body—and, in particular, the Muslim female dressed body—is currently subjected both in and beyond Britain, with the practice of hijab wearing often being used as a versatile political tool. This ongoing attention, which has intensifed since 9/11 and which our era of mass communication undoubtedly amplifes, bestows a cer- tain historical unprecedentedness on the question of the hijab. However, as the socio-literary analyses in this work have shown, much present- day discussion on the hijab in Britain, for all its singularity, brings to mind other dress-related precedents. These precedents have not simply involved Muslims, but also other South Asian minorities in Britain.
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