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Fetishized hijab and resilient Muslim women: Representations of the veil in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf

In the post-9/11 and 7/7 era of xenophobia, vulnerability and vicissitudes, the Muslim diaspora in the West is at the center of contestations about identities and racked with somewhat unacknowledged exilic anxieties. However, as they experience “double colonization” by patriarchy and imperialism in...

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Main Author: Hasan, Md. Mahmudul
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
BP174 The Practice of Islam
BP88 Individual authors, A-Z
PI Oriental languages and literatures
PR English literature
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/34641/1/article_mahmud_Fetishized_hijab_and_resilient_Muslim_women_Representations_of_the_veil_in_Leila_Aboulela%E2%80%99s.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/34641/2/2014_Participation_Letter_Hasan.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/34641/
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spelling my.iium.irep.346412014-01-22T07:25:11Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/34641/ Fetishized hijab and resilient Muslim women: Representations of the veil in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf Hasan, Md. Mahmudul BP174 The Practice of Islam BP88 Individual authors, A-Z PI Oriental languages and literatures PR English literature In the post-9/11 and 7/7 era of xenophobia, vulnerability and vicissitudes, the Muslim diaspora in the West is at the center of contestations about identities and racked with somewhat unacknowledged exilic anxieties. However, as they experience “double colonization” by patriarchy and imperialism in their country of origin, diasporic Muslim women suffer dual oppressions of racism/Islamophobia and sexism from within their communities in the metropolis. An added vulnerability of diasporic Muslim women is the palpable and distinguishable visibility of the hijab many of them wear and become subject to collective stigmatization. While the Muslim woman’s headscarf is an unmistakable target for attacks from right-wing forces, it also provokes unease and invites disapproval from a section of diasporic Muslims. What is more, despite the sartorial freedom to wear revealing dresses, which is largely absent in many Muslim-majority countries but which the culturally-different host country offers, many diasporic Muslim women show staunch resilience and choose to wear the hijab even though they live in a predominantly Islamophobic society. These women also use the third space of diaspora to engage confidently in the reinterpretation of the Islamic texts and thus reclaim an identity which liberates them from the culturally enacted practices of their country of origin. Based on these theoretical premises, my paper will analyze the representation of hijab and of hijab-wearing women in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret (2005) and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf (2009) and will discuss the resilience the heroines of these works show with regard to adhering to the Islamic dress code. 2014 Conference or Workshop Item REM application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/34641/1/article_mahmud_Fetishized_hijab_and_resilient_Muslim_women_Representations_of_the_veil_in_Leila_Aboulela%E2%80%99s.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/34641/2/2014_Participation_Letter_Hasan.pdf Hasan, Md. Mahmudul (2014) Fetishized hijab and resilient Muslim women: Representations of the veil in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf. In: Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention 2014, 9-12 January 2014, Chicago, USA. (Unpublished)
institution Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia
building IIUM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider International Islamic University Malaysia
content_source IIUM Repository (IREP)
url_provider http://irep.iium.edu.my/
language English
English
topic BP174 The Practice of Islam
BP88 Individual authors, A-Z
PI Oriental languages and literatures
PR English literature
spellingShingle BP174 The Practice of Islam
BP88 Individual authors, A-Z
PI Oriental languages and literatures
PR English literature
Hasan, Md. Mahmudul
Fetishized hijab and resilient Muslim women: Representations of the veil in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf
description In the post-9/11 and 7/7 era of xenophobia, vulnerability and vicissitudes, the Muslim diaspora in the West is at the center of contestations about identities and racked with somewhat unacknowledged exilic anxieties. However, as they experience “double colonization” by patriarchy and imperialism in their country of origin, diasporic Muslim women suffer dual oppressions of racism/Islamophobia and sexism from within their communities in the metropolis. An added vulnerability of diasporic Muslim women is the palpable and distinguishable visibility of the hijab many of them wear and become subject to collective stigmatization. While the Muslim woman’s headscarf is an unmistakable target for attacks from right-wing forces, it also provokes unease and invites disapproval from a section of diasporic Muslims. What is more, despite the sartorial freedom to wear revealing dresses, which is largely absent in many Muslim-majority countries but which the culturally-different host country offers, many diasporic Muslim women show staunch resilience and choose to wear the hijab even though they live in a predominantly Islamophobic society. These women also use the third space of diaspora to engage confidently in the reinterpretation of the Islamic texts and thus reclaim an identity which liberates them from the culturally enacted practices of their country of origin. Based on these theoretical premises, my paper will analyze the representation of hijab and of hijab-wearing women in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret (2005) and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf (2009) and will discuss the resilience the heroines of these works show with regard to adhering to the Islamic dress code.
format Conference or Workshop Item
author Hasan, Md. Mahmudul
author_facet Hasan, Md. Mahmudul
author_sort Hasan, Md. Mahmudul
title Fetishized hijab and resilient Muslim women: Representations of the veil in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf
title_short Fetishized hijab and resilient Muslim women: Representations of the veil in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf
title_full Fetishized hijab and resilient Muslim women: Representations of the veil in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf
title_fullStr Fetishized hijab and resilient Muslim women: Representations of the veil in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf
title_full_unstemmed Fetishized hijab and resilient Muslim women: Representations of the veil in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and in Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf
title_sort fetishized hijab and resilient muslim women: representations of the veil in leila aboulela’s minaret and in shelina janmohamed’s love in a headscarf
publishDate 2014
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/34641/1/article_mahmud_Fetishized_hijab_and_resilient_Muslim_women_Representations_of_the_veil_in_Leila_Aboulela%E2%80%99s.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/34641/2/2014_Participation_Letter_Hasan.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/34641/
_version_ 1643610655141396480
score 13.211869

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