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Unfolding the Modern Hijab: from the Colonial Veil to Pious Fashion

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Unfolding the Modern Hijab: from the Colonial Veil to Pious Fashion DUKE UNIVERSITY Durham, North Carolina Unfolding the Modern Hijab: From the Colonial Veil to Pious Fashion Mihret Woldesemait April 15, 2013 Under the supervision of Prof. miriam cooke, Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation with Distinction Program in International Comparative Studies Trinity College of Arts and Sciences Contents Figures .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Glossary ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 7 Research Methodology ..................................................................................................... 12 Thesis ................................................................................................................................ 15 Chapter One: The Colonial Veil ................................................................................................ 16 Images of the Harem ......................................................................................................... 17 The “Disgusting” Veil: Colonial Discourse about Islam and Women ................................................ 21 Colonial Feminism .................................................................................................................................................. 25 Erotic Fantasies: Unveiling the Veiled Women .......................................................................................... 29 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................. 35 Chapter Two: Birth of Islamic Feminism ................................................................................. 37 Religious Revival .............................................................................................................. 42 The Islamic Revival Movements ....................................................................................................................... 43 Resistance through Islamic Identity and Dress ......................................................................................... 46 Islamism ...................................................................................................................................................................... 47 The Grassroots Movement: The veil as an Instrument ........................................................................... 50 The Piety Movement: ............................................................................................................................................ 57 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................. 58 Chapter Three: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Veiling ............................................................ 59 The Piety Movement in Jordan .......................................................................................................................... 59 Fatima and the New Muslim Evangelism ..................................................................................................... 60 Modesty, Piety, and the Veil ............................................................................................................................... 65 Piety and Fashion .................................................................................................................................................... 67 “Correct” Styles ........................................................................................................................................................ 70 “Half and Half” Styles ............................................................................................................................................ 73 “Above Mecca, below Mecca Mall” Styles .................................................................................................... 77 Islamic Fashion and Consumption ................................................................................................................. 83 Piety and Fashion: Cultural and Social Significance ................................................................................ 91 Marriage ...................................................................................................................................................................... 89 Rite of Passage .......................................................................................................................................................... 94 Social Pressures ....................................................................................................................................................... 96 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................. 95 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 97 References ................................................................................................................................. 103 Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 108 2 Figures 1. Le Pacha et Son Harem (“The Pasha and his Harem”) 19 2. Egyptian Girl in Street of Cairo 22 3. Moorish women in town attire & Kabyl woman covering herself with the haik. 32 4. Amr Khaled 62 5. Categories of the Veil 69 6. Fashionable abaya 74 7. Fashionable jilbab 74 8. The “right” and “wrong” hijab 78 9. Typical Gulf style and make up 83 10. Turkish style jilbab 85 11. Host sister and cousin playing dress up 93 12. Aziza Magazine covers 100 3 Glossary hijab – “veil,” specifically the headscarf and more generally the practice of covering muhajjaba/muhajjabat – veiled woman/veiled women abaya – black “cloak” that is usually worn on top of other clothing jilbab- long overcoat that is usually worn on top of other clothing niqab – a head covering, usually black, with a slit open for the eyes haram – “forbidden,” sinful sunnah – written record of Prophet Muhammad’s life and teachings 4 Abstract This thesis examines the evolution of the appropriation and meaning of the hijab in the modern Middle East. During colonial times the veil’s depiction as a sign of backwardness, in social artifacts and in colonial discourse, was used to justify colonialism. Following the colonial period, indigenous scholars and other elites called for unveiling, seeing the hijab as an obstacle to “progress.” However, in the 1970s, a new veiling movement emerged that appropriated the veil as a sign of an authentic identity and an instrument to accommodate a changing modern world. This neo-veiling movement, furthermore, standardized a set of Islamic norms and practices that would use the veil as the embodiment of inner piety and ethical states. It is within this context that this thesis discusses contemporary pious fashion in Amman, Jordan. The ethics and aesthetics of veiling in Amman have again shifted the meaning and appropriation of the veil. Establishing an agreement or balance between piety and fashion/ethics and aesthetics in veiling is significant for contemporary urban residents of Amman. Furthermore, this balance has social significance and guides social and cultural interactions. Harmony, however, is not easily achieved; pious fashion is a complicated maze that is carefully navigated by veiled women. 5 Acknowledgments I wish to thank, first and foremost, my research supervisor Professor miriam cooke, for her brilliant insights, unyielding support, and enthusiasm. To my thesis instructor Professor Ross, I could never fully express my gratitude for her continuous encouragement and immense commitment to my work. To members of my thesis class and our TA Tamara Extian-Babiuk: working with all of you has been one of the most rewarding experiences of this process. Thank you. Most importantly, I am immensely indebted to participants of my research and all those who aided my study in Amman, Jordan. Lastly I would like to thank my parents, Mengesha Woldeabib and Haregwoin Aklilu, for their everlasting love and inspiration. 6 Introduction My earliest memory of attending church every Sunday includes the torturous ceremony of my mother wrapping a white veil around my hair and tying a firm knot on my neck. I remember spending the first half of the three hours of the Ethiopian Orthodox service struggling to untie this knot and free myself from the veil. I not only found this piece of fabric on my hair ugly and hot: it was also uncomfortably constraining. Ethiopian Orthodox custom requires all women to don the veil in church. One of the oldest forms of
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