In her textbook Visibly Muslim, Emma Tarlo outlines how Muslim clothing and fashion in the urban setting of Britain can affect the visibility of ethnicity. According to the 2001 census, there are over 1.6 million Muslims living in Britain. This population consists of individuals from many different backgrounds and descents, and all have their own distinct cultural dress and fashion. The most recognized and popular item among Muslim women is ‘hijab’, which has brought about much debate because of its conservative covering. Hijab is a scarf worn over the head and neck but does not fully cover the face and eyes. There are no set guidelines which inform the way in which Muslim women dress. Instead, Muslim fashion is influenced by factors such as geographic region, heritage and religion. Muslim women’s dress is outlined in the sacred Islamic text, the Qur’an. The covered clothing and headscarf, worn by Muslim women, is a public statement to show modesty, respect for Islam, spirituality, devotedness and identity as a Muslim. This essay explores the different Muslim and non-Muslim perspectives in relation to Tarlo’s Visibly Muslim, and discusses the impacts of being ethnically identifiable (Tarlo, 2010).
Anthropologist Mark Weber outlined three factors that mark the existence of an ethnic group. Firstly, membership of an ethnic group may be by personal choice, through heritage or through force, and signifies an existence of otherness. Secondly, ethnic groups are generally in a search for a common identity, Thirdly, the existence of ethnic groups are often influenced by the perspective of the ‘other’ groups not in membership. These stereotypical markers point out the ethnic community (Bolaffi, 2003).
The main reason for Muslim wome...
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O'Neill, B., Young, L., Gidengil, E. and Cote, C. (2014). Freedom of religion, women's agency and banning the face veil: the role of feminist beliefs in shaping women's opinion. Ethnic and Racial Studies, [online] pp.1-5. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2014.887744 [Accessed 28 May. 2014].
Phillips, A. (2009). “Religion: Ally, Threat or Just Religion?” A Debate on the Public Role of Religion and its Social and Gender Implications, Gender Development Programme Paper Number 5, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, pp 35-58. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/30954/ [Accessed 28 May. 2014].
Tarlo, E. (2010). Visibly Muslim. 1st ed. Oxford: Berg.
For some women wearing a veil is not something that is forced on them but rather a choice of their own. Martha Nussbaum and Maysan Haydar are both authors that try to explain their reasoning that veiling isn't an oppressive tool used against women. Martha Nussbaum's article “Veiled Threats”, is a political and philosophical take on why banning the burqa is a violation of human rights. On the other hand Maysan Haydar’s article “Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering”, is a more humorous and personal take on why veiling shouldn't be as judged or stereotyped. Though Nussbaum and Haydar have equal goals this essay is being used to understand the main argument, claims and whether or not each article has any weaknesses.
Ever pass by Muslim woman in a hijab at the mall or park and think how oppressive and restraining her culture must be? Maysan Haydar, a New York social worker who practices the Muslim tradition of veiling, believes otherwise. In her article, “Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering,” Haydar highlights on her experiences as a Muslim living in an American culture, where showing more skin is the “norm.” Haydar speaks specifically to a crowd who unconsciously makes assumptions about certain Muslim practices, in hopes of sharing the truth behind them. Haydar suggests that, contrary to popular belief, not all Muslim women cover themselves strictly as an “oppressive” religious practice, but that some women, like herself, find
They then use those components as a framework to analyze the specific mechanisms that are causing this change. In this framework they include typology of categories, which is the agreed upon boundaries that divide society by race, and as the means to measure the growing heterogeneity in this category they use survey data’s to analyze the shift in typology over time. The survey data’s show which racial categories individuals identify with while filling out these surveys, and by analyzing these data’s the authors were able to find out that over time people started to check multiple boxes/categories while identifying with their race. Secondly, the authors used classification of individuals, which is grouping people based on shared attributes. This is when individuals become part of a group by having shared or similar attributes that other members of the group identify with. The authors turned to science in order to identify the changes in this category. It was seen that over time the genetic makeup of individuals in different groups started to change, this can be due to reasons like interatrial marriages which allow the offspring’s to identify with multiple racial & ethnic categories. Then the authors use the relative position of groups, which is the social hierarchy of groups
Muslims, Sikhs, and many other religious affiliations have often been targeted for hate crimes, racial slurs, and misfortunate events. We are all different in our own ways some are good and some are bad yet one event changes everything for everyone affiliated with the group. The book The Politics of the Veil by Joan Scott a renowned pioneer in gender studies gives a detailed and analytical book of about the French views towards the Muslim females in France during 2004. The author talks about why the French governments official embargo of wearing conspicuous signs is mainly towards the headscarves for Muslim girls under the age of eighteen in public schools. The main themes of book are gender inequality, sexism, and cultural inequality historical schools used in the book are history of below, woman’s history, cultural history, and political history. In this essay, I will talk about why Joan Scotts argument on why the French government’s ban on wearing conspicuous signs was
Ethnicity is a self-defined social construct; it is a shared sense of belonging to a social group (Scheppers et al. 2005). Ethnic minority groups are individuals within a soci...
According to most, ethnicity usually is displayed in the values, attitudes, lifestyles, customs, rituals, and personality types of individuals who identify with particular ethnic groups. Ethnic identifications and memberships in an ethnic group has farreaching effects on both groups and individuals, controlling assess to opportunities in life, feeling of well being and mastery over the futures of one's child and future. These feelings of belonging and attachment to a certain group of people for whatever reason are a basic feature of the human condition. These ties are called "ethnic ties" and the group of people that one is tied to is an "ethnic group." In the general sense, an ethnic group consists of those who share a unique social and cultural heritage that is passed on from generation to generation.
Fatemeh Fakhraie’s essay “Scarfing it Down,” explains how Muslim women suffer because of what they wear. Fakhraie blogs about Muslim women in her website she explains; “Seeing ourselves portrayed in the media in ways that are one-dimensional and misleading." Several people judge Muslim's by their appearance because they assume they're a bad person. The author of this essay wants the reader to know that Muslim women wearing a hijab are not a threat to the world.
Religion is considered as a pervasive force in this world. It shapes people as to how they behave and interact with almost everything present in the society. Influencing behavior, character formations, ideals, policies, standards are just among the dimensions and societal perspectives affected and impacted by religion. Because of these applications and implications in human lives and existence, religion should be understood deeply, particularly, on how it affects the world. Looking at the American perspective of the term "religion," it could be simply
Professor Leila Ahmed, active Islamic feminist, in her article “Reinventing the veil” published in the Financial Times assumes that there is a connection between “advancement” and veiling, which means that unveiled women are advanced and vice versa. In addition, she supports that it led to increasing rate of violence. She questions why women wear veil, that is considered as “symbol of patriarchy and women’s oppression”. However, research changed her position towards wearing veil. Firstly, she states that wearing veil was essential for women, because it could be beneficial and influence to how people treat women, in terms of job, marriage and free movement in public. Secondly, her assumption was explained while interviewing women, who stated
The focus on ethnic schema is how individuals are collectively protecting and fighting for their interest as a group, which has led to ranking such as minority groups depending on their indomitable strength over others. The new system of ethnic schema promotes ethnic identity that is imperative to ones well- being. However, the shift from race to ethnic group has been implicated with the concern on historical issues. The members of certain groups are not only concerned with their past but also their interaction with members of other ethnic group (Blu, 1979). History has been termed as an important feature that describes an ethnic group based on their shared experiences and traditions and of common heritage. However, in terms of racial classification, history is rendered irrelevant since race is a biological construct. History as asserted by on the African Americans women has been the potent feature that symbolises ethnicity structure among
There are many different views towards Muslim choice of clothing especially wearing the veil. “I wear it believing it is necessary, but someone else can be wearing it believing that she is doing something extra” said Hamna Ahmed. One of the many reasons a Muslim can be wearing the veil are their own personal decisions too. Hamna has been wearing it for seven years now, despite her mother and three of her four sisters staying uncovered. Socially this causes an issue with the meaning of the veil and conflict with other groups. With many different consumptions of religion, what it means, what is considered to be practicing and what is not can lead to negative misunderstandings. Ultimately the decisions are up to the individuals although; there is likely to be misinterpretation between the meaningfulness of religion to family and society. On an even bigger scale of things this could also impact society and it...
Correspondingly, many who oppose the burka would argue that they do so because it is an item of oppression. It is argued that the burka is a garment that reinforces the inferior status of women. For them, it is a concern these women will be controlled by the men and that it lowers the dignity and equality of the women in burkas. It is further argued that the burka reverses some of the breakthroughs that women as a whole have had in the previous decades determining the role us females have in today’s
Being able to identify with a certain group has been an issue that individuals hesitate with daily. Am I Black, are you a girl, what religion do you practice? These are all common questions that society has forced individuals to concentrate on. Should an individual have to pick a side or is it relevant to the human race to identify with any group? One may believe not, but for others having and knowing one’s own identity is important, because it is something that they have been developing their entire life. Along with how their identity influenced their life chances and their self-esteem. This can also affect how society interact with whatever identity an individual chooses to live. Which is why it was important to recognize how identifying
299). The study consisted of having in-depth personal interviews to share their experiences of being a Muslim American woman (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 300). Veiling to these women was a way of freedom while also having a Muslim identity (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 301). It was also a source of behavior control, to not be sexually objectified, a way of commanding respect from others and even a source of checking their own behavior (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 301). One of the women interviewed said, veiling to her was a way to feel connected to other Muslim woman who veil (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 302). Veiling can be a way to feel connected to your religion and God as well as being connected to those who practice the same faith, it can be considered an act of membership. Many of the women interviewed noted they have been removed from planes, been treated unfairly, and have had strangers shout at them all for just being Muslim and being more visibly recognized from veiling (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 303). This is an example of how media can affect the general population. When the media only shows radicals and compares all Muslims to being terrorist or dangerous they are actually putting Muslim people at risk of being assaulted in public. Muslim woman in particular are more at risk for being assaulted as they are more identifiable. So while veiling can be a source of empowerment and freedom for women it is a double-edged sword because it also puts them at further risk of being
The book Muhammad, by Michael Cook, describes the impact Muhammad has had on the world as we know it. It explains why Muhammad chose the paths he did, and how certain laws came about. Cook offers a very objective view of the laws and policies Muhammad outlined in the Koran, and the traditions that are carried on that supplement his written law.