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In this article, I add a discursive analysis to the discussion about Muslim girls and women's dress in non-Muslim educational contexts. I argue that a law or policy that prohibits the wearing of khimar, burqa, chador, niqab, hijab, or jilbab in the context of public schools is a form of censorship in educational contexts. This sartorial censorship is miseducative in the sense that it impedes the achievement of important educational goals, especially in public education. I consider the public nature of public education and discuss three sets of miseducative effects: First, the examination of discursive processes, including the production of social norms, is limited. Second, the critical uptake of the banned discourse by female Muslim students themselves is foreclosed, and their agency hindered. Third, a metadiscourse arises that translates individual sartorial discursive acts into generalized terms (such as "veils" and "headscarves") without noticing what is lost in translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wearing of the female Islamic dress (generally referred to as the hijab), or any feature of this dress such as the headscarf (khimar), face veil (niqab) and the head-to-toe all enveloping garment (jilbab) is a complex and multi-faceted issue that is often raised in public debate in most European States in recent years particularly in the education and employment areas. This article analyses the selected State practice and judicial decisions on the banning and similar restrictions to the wearing of the Islamic dress in State schools. Two issues are analysed: (i) whether the prohibition of female Muslim pupils or students from wearing the Islamic dress, or any feature of the Islamic dress, while at State schools amounts to an unjustifiable violation of the right to education and/or an unjustifiable violation of freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs and (ii) if a State (or a non State actor) prohibits a female Muslim teacher from wearing the Islamic dress while at a State school, docs this amount to a violation of the teacher's right to work and/or the teacher's right to manifest freedom of religion or belief? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights some of the discursive implications of framing the question of Islamic dress as one of religious rights. It is argued that the very construction of hijab issues as those of ‘religious identity’, sustained by the use of Article 9 of the ECHR as the primary legal basis for their resolution, has shaped a number of counterproductive trends. These are: avoiding difficult questions through a judicial technique of deference to local knowledge; using a language of choice to produce an obscure and unsatisfactory account of Muslim women's agency; false dichotomising of culture and gender; and producing an ever more docile and exposed subject through the subtle mechanisms of public scrutiny and moralising. Each trend is considered in turn. The article's arguments draw on the critical thought of Wendy Brown and post-colonial feminism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article highlights some of the discursive implications of framing the question of Islamic dress as one of religious rights. It is argued that the very construction of hijab issues as those of ‘religious identity’, sustained by the use of Article 9 of the ECHR as the primary legal basis for their resolution, has shaped a number of counterproductive trends. These are: avoiding difficult questions through a judicial technique of deference to local knowledge; using a language of choice to produce an obscure and unsatisfactory account of Muslim women's agency; false dichotomising of culture and gender; and producing an ever more docile and exposed subject through the subtle mechanisms of public scrutiny and moralising. Each trend is considered in turn. The article's arguments draw on the critical thought of Wendy Brown and post-colonial feminism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Among Muslims living in the United States, Islamic religious practices are negotiated and adapted to a new culture. A visible and controversial symbol of Muslims' differences from dominant American Christianity is the hijab worn by many Muslim women. The decision to wear hijab occurs within a two-fold cultural context: (1) the assumption by many non-Muslims that hijab encapsulates Islam's inherent violation of women's "equal rights"; and (2) a widespread Muslim critique of American culture for its individualism, materialism, and lax sexual mores. Using data from interviews and observations with college-age, second-generation Muslim Americans, we explore the context, meanings, and consequences of wearing hijab. Second-generation Muslim women are negotiating social and religious identities in contrast both to non-Muslim Americans and to their immigrant families. Hijab has multiple meanings as a religious and social symbol; it provides a clear identity marker at a life-course transitional time, and it provides culturally legitimate space for young women who are formulating Muslim-American identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Muslim headscarf in light of recent debates about the accommodation of religion in U.S. public institutions. Recent quarrels over such matters as the phrase 'one nation under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance and the posting of the Ten Commandments in courthouses and other government buildings, foreground American attitudes about whether wearing the Muslim headscarf is a practice deserving First Amendment protection. What legal claims have been raised by or on behalf of Muslim women wearing the headscarf in the United States? How do these comport with judicial doctrine on the separation of church and state? And what roles have religious advocacy groups played in promoting positions that have a bearing on how the headscarf is viewed? Viewing the law of regulation as productive rather than protective of the subject, this article analyzes how discourses and practices of secularism have been formed with respect to the question of wearing the Muslim headscarf in a variety of contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamic Law or Sharia is the legal system by which the community of Muslim faithful is ruled. Its origins date back to the 6th century, when Islam is born. Its sources are the Coran (sacred book that contains the divine message), the Sunna (reports on the sayings and conduct of Muhammad) and the fik (group of laws created by the interpretation of the aforementioned ones). It is erroneous to identify this religious Law and the legal systems of the Muslim countries. One of the objectives of the Islamist movements is the return to the Sharia, but adapted to the present historical moment. Because of its personal nature, the Sharia precepts might come into conflict with the ones of the territorial legal systems, just as it has happened in relation to Muslim veil. To this one refers the Sharia in different sections, but it does it ambiguously, without affirm clearly its obligatory character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces various emerging trends in the Egyptian fashion industry in relation to changing lifestyles in Egypt. It focuses in particular on the emergence and coexistence of different local fashion genres, namely ‘Islamic chic’, locally produced Western ‘chic’, and so-called ‘ethnic chic’, all of which have come into existence next to imported Western fashions, which have a long tradition in Egypt. These new trends can be interpreted as part of the interactive processes of globalization. It is argued that both the ethnic look and Islamic chic are promoting new strategies of ‘distinction’ and refined taste. Intricately connected with identity formation and closely associated with ‘folklorizing’ culture, ‘traditional’ clothes along with local handicrafts and ethnic items have become fashionable amongst the well-to-do and tourists. Meanwhile, Islamic attire has transformed from being an austere marker of resistance to Westernization and upper-class pretensions to a new form of ‘embourgeoisement’ with the aspirations for social inclusion that this entails. While the ethnic look functions as a status marker, Islamic chic has become a new means to social elevation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the dress of three prominent Muslim women who have made a significant mark in British public life: the textile artist Rezia Wahid, the stand-up comedienne Shazia Mirza, and the councilor and advisor on Muslim affairs Humera Khan. It focuses, in particular, on their sartorial biographies, tracing the processes, experiences, and reasoning behind their clothing choices. Whilst the wearing of dress that is visibly identifiable as Islamic is often interpreted as a sign of narrow conservatism or political activism, the biographies of these three women suggest something very different. Their sartorial choices and stylistic innovations are the creative products of cosmopolitan lifestyles and attitudes in which concerns about fashion, religion, politics, and aesthetics are interwoven in interesting ways. The article suggests that a focus on sartorial biography enables a shift away from a whole series of conventional dichotomies: religious/secular, traditional/modern, Eastern/Western, Islam/West, towards a broader understanding of the wide range of experiences and concerns that inform the clothing choices of contemporary British Muslim women. Finally, it is suggested that the proliferation of religiously oriented fashions amongst Muslims in Western metropolitan cities is not necessarily a sign of narrow conservatism. It may also signal the emergence of new forms of Islamic cosmopolitanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the June 2007 issue of the journal "Fashion Theory," Volume 11, which focuses on Muslim fashion practices and the relationship between religion and fashion is presented.

This article explores conflicting notions of morality, religion, virtue, and authenticity through an analysis of dress and identity politics in Mali. While many women in urban Mali claim that being a Muslim believer does not preclude one from cultivating a fashionable, modern look, they are challenged by other women who emphasize the representational function of dress. To the latter, the choice of a dress forms part of their public enactment of a pious disposition and their understanding of religious virtue that revolves around notions of female modesty, submissiveness, and patience. These divergent views of proper female dress are further complicated by many women's ambivalent positioning vis-à-vis the government's promotion of ‘traditional dress’ as an emblem of an authentic African identity. By exposing how these different groups of women debate the significance of particular dress items, this article draws attention to the complex and paradoxical nature of the practices through which women interrogate, and redefine, conventional understandings of femininity, proper Muslim observance, and enlightened-yet-authentically ‘African’ identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents ethnographic material from contemporary Kerala, where recent shifts in Muslim women's dress styles (shift from sari towards salwaar kameez; adoption of pardah; use of Arabic abaya) have come under critique. We show that commentators fail to take into account the degree to which all Indian women—not simply Muslims’are heavily constrained in dress by issues of modesty and ‘decency’. Dress codes for all communities and both sexes have been continually reworked since the nineteenth century. Muslims' recent changes are prompted by a shift away from Hindu idioms and towards more Islamic idioms of modesty; changes index Indian Muslims' growing realization (also apparent in other spheres) that much of India's putatively common culture is actually rooted in Hindu practice. We also show that while popular and ethnographic focus alike falls upon women, men are also deeply caught up in respecting dress codes. But concerns with decency are always negotiated within desires for fashion. Kerala's Muslim community is more than averagely high spending and Muslims are especially interested in dressing well and participating in worlds of fashion, which may be vernacular ishtyle (Indian film driven) or global (brands). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past fifteen years, urban Indonesian women have increasingly chosen to adopt a form of Islamic dress called busana Muslim. This shift could be read as an index of two apparently contradictory or mutually exclusive phenomena, a rise in Islamic piety and a rise in consumerism. This article suggests that rather than reducing the popularity of Islamic fashion in contemporary Indonesia to either religion or consumerism, the rise of Islamic fashion should be understood within a context of national debates about modernity and piety. Through a consideration of Islamic fashion as commodity fetish, I argue that the commodification of Islamic dress in urban Indonesia has not been a straightforward process, but rather is an arena for Indonesian Muslims to think about the relationship among faith, gender, and materiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study looks at how marketers in Turkey construct and represent tesettürlü consumers (women wearing Islamically inspired forms of covered dress) in advertising and other commercial imagery, and how these representations are shaped and transformed by the local and global dynamics of consumerism, capitalism, and politics. We believe that the emergence of tesettürlü women as a distinct consumer segment and their evolving representation in the marketing imagery are revealing of the processes of identity formation and negotiation as well as the social changes that have been occurring in Turkey since the 1980s. By attending to the discourses and practices of market actors, namely companies and designers that manufacture and sell clothing and related products to tesettürlü women in Turkey, we show how the Islamic fashion industry operates through a play on cultural difference and similarity, and fabricate the ideal of a ‘modern’ tesettürlü woman which is attainable through consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contends that the laws banning public school teachers from wearing Islamic headscarves are unconstitutional. It examines the religious significance of the Islamic headscarf and the surrounding political controversy in Germany. It demonstrates that most of the headscarf laws fail the Federal Constitutional Court's (FCC) guidelines for equal treatment of religions. It concludes that all religious clothing and symbols should be expressly and unconditionally permitted in public schools.

The article addresses the debate over the wearing of Muslim headscarves in French schools. The veil or its absence has increasingly been considered as a marker of religion, and/or of political and social views. The issue of the Muslim headscarf is more controversial in France than in other European countries. The controversy about the wearing of headscarves or veils in schools is an episode in the country's change from being a nation of nearly all old-stock Catholics to one including a large component of people from other backgrounds and other religious traditions.

An essay about conflicts on gendered cultural practice in polycultural society is presented. Cultural practices like the wearing of veils or hijab by Muslim girls and women has been the source of much cross-cultural conflict. Debates on demands for multicultural society versus the right of the nation to instantiate its own values for civil society has escalated particularly in the European and Western societies. Legislation in some European countries has banned the wearing of hijab among schoolgirls. The author proposes a shift from a depiction of society as one that contains a variety of cultures to one that embodies cultural variety. In this way, the dominant society's obligation to other cultures begins in taking responsibility for the discourses they produce.

The article offers a commentary on Dianne Gereluk's essay about school clothing. The author reflects on Gereluk's conclusion that clothing policies need to give wide berth to freedom of expression and freedom of religion. The case of the use of the Muslim veil or hijab exemplifies a tension between civic purposes and liberal commitments of common schools in pluralist democracies. He discusses three interpretations of the symbolism of the use of the veil and concludes that dress codes that are appropriately nuanced and sensitive to local circumstances are generally preferable to blanket approaches.

Issues raised by women in relation to the wearing of Muslim headscarves challenge the assumed democratic rights of citizens and the conditions of distribution of social goods, such as education, in many countries in Europe. These demands to wear headscarves also point to a cleavage in the assumed relationship between state and civil society in democratic systems. By looking at the situation in Turkey, this study questions the priority given to civil society in the analysis of democratic systems as the space for social negotiation through which marginalized voices can participate in the democratic discussions. It is instead argued that in cases where state and the civil society are closely associated and share a similar socio-cultural value system in relation to the broader national identity, then the civil society 'space' is in practice very limited. This has serious consequences for both the claims of women in headscarves and for democratic rights in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1989, France has endured repeated, contentious debates about the ‘Islamic’ headscarf. In February 2004, French legislators approved a new law prohibiting students from wearing conspicuous ‘religious signs’ in public schools. Contrary to some observers’ assumptions, this measure was not caused mainly by new efforts to combat terrorism or by pro-Christian prejudice. Explaining France's decision to pass this surprising new legislation requires attention to both historical continuities of French political thinking and the changing French and international context. French republican understandings of citizenship and secularism have long made the headscarves issue peculiarly sensitive in France. However, the new law marks a clear departure from previous French policy. Explaining that rupture requires attention to more immediate social and political factors, most importantly: dissatisfaction with the previous policy; effective mobilization of public sympathy by new feminist groups; concern about rising anti-Semitism; and, somewhat paradoxically, developments in international human rights law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks into the continuing universalizing power of dominant images of veiled Muslim women in the media and examines how these operate to deny plurality and diversity to their voices and subjectivities. It discusses the residual influence of colonial discourses of veiling and unveiling among Muslim women, specially inside a Western cultural context. It also explores how Western post-feminist equations between women's sexuality and bodily self-expression reinforce premises about the veil's abnegation of sexual desire that ignore Islamic thinking about female sexuality.

The article focuses on how a headscarf ban in French schools resulted to a conflict between France and Iraq. As a result, an Islamic organization kidnapped two French journalists and demanded that the French government must withdraw the law. However, the French refused to consider. Political analysts on the other hand consider the law as against human rights since it condemn freedoms of religion and expression. The ban not only caused international conflict but also chaos in schools.

In many countries of the European Union, the issue of the Islamic headscarf has resulted in specific legal measures taken by governmental institutions or courts, or in pragmatic compromises reached between parents and school authorities. This holds especially true for the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. As a matter of principle, the relations between public authorities and religious groups, as well as the determination of the place of religion in the public sphere, fall under the sovereignty and exclusive competence of each of the EU member-states. Consequently, the nature and results of discussions in these countries, as well as the compromises reached to resolve conflicts, differ according to the countries’ various educational and constitutional traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Explores the metaphysics of the Muslim veil. Negation of her body by the woman; Reinforcement of the status of the human body as appurtenance to be constructed by an omnipotent male gaze; Affirmation of classical definitions of woman.

The article focuses on the clothing worn by Muslim men and women.

Focuses on the transformation of South Indian courtly dress and the phenomenon of Islamicization at Vijayanagara. Theoretical model of Islamicization; Relevance of Islamicist, Marshall G.S. Hodgson's writings on the theoretical model of Islamicization; Detailed visual evidence of Vijayanagara's Islamicized dress.

Analyses the debate in France in 1989 between French and Maghrebi men regarding the Muslim girls who refused to remove their headscarves or veils in classrooms. Gender and power relations cause by postcolonial immigration; Historical background; Major issues in the debate.

The article focuses on the issues concerning the Islamic resurgence in Malaysia. The revival of Islam is an act of describing the effort to restore its values, practices, laws and ethos which is guided by the Koran and the Sunnah. Various signs of this event are observed everywhere in the country such as the rapid diffusion of Islamic clothing among Muslim population, the frequent use of penchant as the form of greeting and their dietary rules. The government has also responded to the renewal by initiating different activities including new programs over both state-run radio and television networks.

The author addresses the announcement by French President Nicholas Sarkozy in the summer of 2009 about the ban of burqa in France. The author points out that France is not the first European country where the face-veil has become a topic of parliamentary debate, citing the experience of the Netherlands in December 2005. However, the author argues that the shift from religious symbol to sign of women's subjugation is hypocritical.

The article presents a comment on the article "Deploying the Muslimwoman," by Miriam Cooke. The author relates her experiences of teaching at a university where Muslim and non-Muslim students attached on the veil or hijab, confirming its importance. She claims that the veil remains a lodestone of political Islam, to represent the status quo of the Muslim woman and its identity in both the Muslim-minority and Muslim-majority worlds. She hopes that all Muslim women could simply agree that the hijab is not an issue in a Muslim-majority or a Muslim-minority setting, but rather an internal and deep connection to an individual's devotion to and understanding of her Allah.