What Is Veiling?
Sahar Amer
Abstract
Ranging from simple head scarf to full-body burqa, the veil is worn by vast numbers of Islamic women around the world. This book explains one of the most visible, controversial, and least understood emblems of Islam, incisively highlighting the rich, complex meanings of Muslim women's veiling practices today. This book addresses the role and significance of veiling in the religious, cultural, political, and social lives of Muslims, past and present. Introducing all the major aspects of veiling—including history, religion, conservative and progressive interpretations, politics and regionality, ... More
Ranging from simple head scarf to full-body burqa, the veil is worn by vast numbers of Islamic women around the world. This book explains one of the most visible, controversial, and least understood emblems of Islam, incisively highlighting the rich, complex meanings of Muslim women's veiling practices today. This book addresses the role and significance of veiling in the religious, cultural, political, and social lives of Muslims, past and present. Introducing all the major aspects of veiling—including history, religion, conservative and progressive interpretations, politics and regionality, society and economics, feminism, fashion, and art—this book highlights the true multiplicity of meanings of veiling practices. It shows that the realities of veiling cannot be homogenized or oversimplified and extend well beyond the religious and political accounts that are overwhelmingly proclaimed both inside and outside Muslim-majority societies.
Keywords:
veil,
Islamic women,
Muslims,
feminism,
fashion,
veiling,
Muslim women,
Islam
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781469617756 |
| Published to North Carolina Scholarship Online: January 2015 |
DOI:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469617756.001.0001 |
