Bibliography

“Child wearing hijab to protest French ban.” Photograph. “The Forgotten Hijab Ban: ‘I just couldn’t take it off another time!’” MuslimMatters. 14 March 2008. 13 November 2009. <http://muslimmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/hijab-ban1.jpg>

“Muslim woman wearing a hijab.” Photograph. “Miss Headscarf Competition Won By Iraqui.” Telegraph. 10 June 2008. 11 November 2009. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/denmark/2106753/Miss-Headscarf-competition-won-by-Iraqi.html>

Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 2004.

McCoy, Glenn. “Nancy Pelosi wearing a hijab.” Cartoon. Gina Cobb News ~ Opinion ~ Commentary. 3 April 2007. 14 November 2009.

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. Paris: L’Association, 2000.

Scott, Joan Wallach. The Politics of the Veil. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2007.

Sosis, Richard. “The Adaptive Value of Religious Ritual.” 140-144. PDF.

Also, infinite thanks to Rasheeda Abdul-Musawwir for assisting me with this project and providing the interviews and perspective without which I would never have truly understood the hijab.

Overall Result: What I've Learned from Studying the Hijab

Why does an anthropologist conduct research? Invariably, an anthropologist’s thirst for knowledge leads them to seek answers to questions about other cultures. Through the methods of participant observation and cultural relativism, anthropologists come to understand the internal logic that drives the actions of members of cultures other than their own. Indeed, throughout this project I have employed both of those tactics to understand why Muslim women in the modern world continue to wear the hijab. I found that not only is it for religious reasons but for the maintenance of personal morals: the hijab promotes modesty, and reduces the objectification of women by promoting gender equality. I learned that asking a Muslim woman to take off her headscarf is just as much of a violation to her as is asking any American woman to take off her shirt. Many anthropologists also go through culture shock, a disorienting moment in which all of their familiar social cues are gone. While I did not experience anything so dramatic during this project, many of the things I learned about the hijab, and about Islam today, surprised me. In particular, one quote from Politics of the Veil truly exemplified for me my change in mindset that has come about solely because of this project. In the introduction, Scott writes, “[I]t is widely argued that veils stand for the oppression of women. So insists Margaret de Cuyper of Holland: ‘Women have lived for too long with clothes and standards decided for them by men; this [the removal of the veil] is a victory’” (4). To the left of this quote I wrote as a note to myself, “Would I have felt his way before interviewing Rasheeda? Did I?!” To me, this truly shows that I am no longer accepting at face value the Western teachings I have received, but rather am questioning them in true anthropological fashion. I maintain that there are certainly various points of contention about the Islam religion, but what religion is universally accepted? The hijab remains a controversial subject in discourses about religion in society, gender roles, and equality in certain communities. Although my opinion on it has certainly changed in its favor (if the woman freely chooses to wear it), there are some compelling arguments for its removal. However, I have decided that it is not my place to judge, or to tell other people how to dress themselves. The hijab worn by Muslim women has had a monumental effect upon not just participants of Islam but of all cultures of the world, and in my research I have ultimately come to realize the justification women have of wearing it today.

American Perception of the Hijab?

Many Americans have a negative view of the hijab. They feel it puts women on a lower level than men. However, proponents of the headscarf assert that it actually promotes equality. By masking the features of women that differ from those of men, women and men can focus more on whatever issue they are talking about instead of upon their own differences. The negative connotation the hijab has in America today can be seen in this cartoon by Glenn McCoy that mocks the hijab. Whether or not the hijab restricts or encourages women's rights is a matter for discussion in a forum other than this one. I am simply here to learn as much about the hijab and its various perceptions in American society as I can.

Interview With Rasheeda Abdul: Learning to Put On a Hijab

Why Are Women Forced to Compensate for Men’s Alleged Lust?

Anthropologist Carol Delaney, in her book Investigating Culture, asserts a feminist standpoint with regards to an issue about public curfews. In a chapter about the intertwining relationship between space and place, she writes:

It is important to become more aware of how space keeps certain people in and out—prisons and mental hospitals are obvious examples, but so too do courts, churches, offices, government buildings, and even public parks regulate who can enter. Who has freedom of movement? In a classroom, who can walk about? In an office, what people are “chained to their desks”? Who feels safe walking in a city at night or in a large park alone? A number of years ago when I was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the mayor put a curfew on women after dark because there had been an increase in the number of attacks and rapes. I called and asked why not put the curfew on men since they were the ones creating the problem. Why not let women, for once, have free use of the streets? (My request was not instituted.) (43-44)

Indeed, why must the women of Cambridge be forced to change their ways due to the way men feel about them? The same can be said about the use of the Muslim hijab. The hijab is intended to promote modesty and to keep men from objectifying women. However, it is an unfortunate circumstance that the women must go to these great lengths to keep from being objectified. The punishments in the afterlife are steep for those women who do not keep themselves properly covered. “It is said that for every strand of hair exposed, a woman will burn 90 days in hell. Not surprisingly, hell is imagined as being occupied primarily by women” (Delaney 261). Yet it is the men who are lusting after the women, not the other way around! Shouldn’t they be burning for their corporal sin, not the women? It is not their fault they have hair on their heads. Another note on the study of place and space and freedom of movement: Women in the Middle East are quite often forbidden from going out in public without a male figure to escort them. In Saudi Arabia in particular, women are legally forbidden to drive cars. One of the reasons for this is that driving a car may lead them to have interactions with non-mahram males (such as if they are stopped by a policeman). This extreme restriction of mobility is, in my opinion, a violation of women’s rights. While it is admirable for the men to attempt to control their urges (in both the Cambridge situation and in Islam), they are doing so by controlling the women instead of exercising self-restraint and willpower. Throughout my research I have found many justifications for wearing the hijab. They still ring true, but I also believe in the obligation of men in society to control their sexual urges towards women and practice self-restraint, so that women’s rights of freedom of movement and dress need not be curtailed.

Inequality Within Islam Constructed by Non-Participants

Unfortunately, the video of my second interview with Rasheeda was cut off and could not be repaired. However, during the first half Rasheeda makes a few interesting points about Marjane Satrapi’s relationship with the religion of Islam compared with her own. She demonstrates that she is an open-minded individual, because she does not believe that everyone must be Muslim to be “correct”. Instead, it appears that Rasheeda places a certain value upon fulfillment of personal morals and goals, equally or perhaps even more than fulfillment of societal expectations. She admires Satrapi’s strength of character to stand up for what she believed in, even if it meant contradicting Rasheeda’s own opinions. While this may seem treasonous to her religion, it actually shows an open-mindedness and mental liberation that might contradict many Westerners’ opinions of Muslims. Rasheeda and I discuss this opinion next: she tells me that although many people associate the inequality of the Middle East with Islam, she believes it is more of a cultural aspect of that area. Western scholars of the Qur’an have pointed out various features of that text that feminists might label masochistic. Indeed, many feminists point to the hijab as a symbol of the oppression of women, saying that the men of Islamic society have no right to dictate how these women dress themselves. Yet Rasheeda is an example of how she chooses to dress herself that way: it is a lifestyle that suits her personal moral compass. According to Rasheeda, a Muslim woman, there is indeed plenty of equality within her religion. I have learned from this interview that participant observation is key to understanding another culture. Before talking with Rasheeda, I, too, thought Islam was a male-dominated means of control over women. However, I have come to see that Rasheeda does indeed maintain control over her life and her decisions (while certainly influenced by the ideals of Islam) are her own.

Interview with Rasheeda Abdul: The Social Pressures Associated with the Hijab