The Veil

by Heath, Jennifer

• ISBN13: 9780520255180
• ISBN10: 0520255186
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

This groundbreaking volume, written entirely by women, examines the vastly misunderstood and multilayered world of the veil. Veiling-- of women, of men, and of sacred places and objects--has existed in countless cultures and religions from time immemorial. Today, veiling is a globally polarizing issue, a locus for the struggle between Islam and the West and between contemporary and traditional interpretations of Islam. But veiling was a practice long before Islam and still extends far beyond the Middle East. This book explores and examines the cultures, politics, and histories of veiling. Twenty-one gifted writers and scholars, representing a wide range of societies, religions, ages, locations, races, and accomplishments, here elucidate, challenge, and/or praise the practice. Expertly organized and introduced by Jennifer Heath, who also writes on male veiling, the essays are arranged in three parts: the veil as an expression of the sacred; the veil as it relates to the emotional and the sensual; and the veil in its sociopolitical aspects. This unique, dynamic, and insightful volume is illustrated throughout. It brings together a multiplicity of thought and experience, much of it personal, to make readily accessible a difficult and controversial subject.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
From Her Royal Body the Robe Was Removed: The Blessings of the Veil and the Trauma of Forced Unveilings in the Middle East	p. 27
Shattered Vessels That Contain Divine Sparks: Unveiling Hasidic Women's Dress Code	p. 44
Going the Whole Nine Yards: Vignettes of the Veil in India	p. 60
Out of the Cloister: Unveiling to Better Serve the Gospel	p. 75
The Amish Veil: Symbol of Separation and Community	p. 90
"What is subordinated, dominates": Mourning, Magic, Masks, and Male Veiling	p. 99
I Just Want to Be Me: Issues in Identity for One American Muslim Woman	p. 119
"She freed and floated on the air": Salome and Her Dance of the Seven Veils	p. 139
"He hath couerd my soule inwarde": Veiling in Medieval Europe and the Early Church	p. 160
Nubo: The Wedding Veil	p. 171
After Eden: The Veil as a Conduit to the Internal	p. 174
Virtue and Sin: An Arab Christian Woman's Perspective	p. 191
Drawing the Line at Modesty: My Place in the Order of Things	p. 202
On the Road: Travels with My Hijab	p. 213
Purdah, Patriarchy, and the Tropical Sun: Womanhood in India	p. 231
The Veil: From Persepolis	p. 248
Concealing and Revealing Female Hair: Veiling Dynamics in Contemporary Iran	p. 250
That (Afghan) Girl! Ideology Unveiled in National Geographic	p. 266
Burqas and Bikinis: Islamic Dress in Newspaper Cartoons	p. 281
Dress Codes and Modes: How Islamic Is the Veil?	p. 290
From Veil to Veil: "What's in a woman's head is a lot more important than what's on it"	p. 307
Epilogue	p. 319
About the Contributors	p. 323
Index	p. 331
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