Conference: Veiled Constellations

The veil, critical theory, politics, and contemporary society.

A conference designed to problematize the prevailing discourses surrounding the veil while exploring its subversive potential.



Sponsored by the University of Toronto on June 3-5, 2010


"This conference offers a forum to problematize the prevailing discourses surrounding the veil while exploring the veil's subversive potential. The extent to which the veil can erode, or even invert power and oppression is, with the exception of various Islam-inspired positions, an overlooked and under-explored area of academic theorizing. We ask what new insights may be unearthed in moving beyond the impetus to repudiate, fear, or adore the veil. This conference is a unique opportunity to discuss those contested voices situated within the interstices of the liberal, conservative and Islamic constellations, and, in the process, to re-evaluate the veil in an entirely new light by intersecting multiple disciplinary perspectives...This event will highlight highly innovative and thought-provoking approaches to not only the Islamic veil, but the veil as such...Essentially, we seek a different kind of conversation and a different set of lexical and philosophical devices to navigate the many paradoxes that the veil represents"

http://www.veiledconstellations.com/index.html

Banu-ye Ordibehesht

Through the mashrabiyya, it is the woman who controls the gaze so that, far from rendering her passive or invisible, the mashrabiyya in face enables her not only to manage her lover's gaze but also to communicate her feelings. Being veiled does not equate with being silenced, as Hamid Naficy notes in his discussion of the film Banu-ye Ordibehesht, where the voices of two lovers circumvent the stringent rules of Iranian film secors on what can be visually portrayed on screen.

-Veil: Veiling, Representation and Contemporary Art, p.23

Women and Intrigue

"I believe a woman should be full of excitement and intrigue like a film. In other words, she should conceal her nature and make men rely on their imagination in order to dicover her."

-Alfred Hitchcock

Opinion on the Veil

"Why have young girls started to cover themselves in this new type of veil and dress like old women? I think that is just a trent, a fashion like any other.... Fifty years ago, girls were most interested in the fabrics, colours and designs which would attract a possible husband's interest... we only thout about clothes in this sense. It wasn't that hijab and modesty were unimportant, it was just that girls were not so serious about it... I do not think this new veiling is a religious duty. A woman's modest conduct is more important than what she wears... Although I have this opinion about the new veil being a trend which is not an essential part of Islam, I am not against what it stands for if it means that society is becoming more concerned with morality and turning against some of the modern ways and Western values which started to take hold...It is important for the Arab people to rediscover their own traditions and take pride in themselves... We have become used to seeing Western women almost naked in our streets and if, because of this, our women want to cover themselves in the new veil, then it is a welcome protest against indecency and our overwhelming past interest in all things foreign. The women who adopt the new veil do so for a number of reasons, but it should not be a matter of law, but one of personal choice."

-Fatima, a vegetable seller in Cairo, in her late seventies.

Extracts from Helen Watson, 'Women and the Veil: Personal Responses to Global Process', in Akbar S. Ahmed and Hastings Donnan (eds), Islam, Globalization and Postmodernity, London and New York; Routledge, 1994.

Decision to Veil in France

"I did not think to wear the veil as a younger woman at home in Algiers, it was not important then. At the time my mother, aunts and sisters wore a western style of clothes and did not cover their hair or face...When my husband and I came to France,...I had to find employment...and there was no question that I would not wear a veil....It is important to me to keep my appearance private and not be stared at by strange men and foreigners...[Veiling] allows me more freedom and shows that I am a woman concerned about her modesty. The experience of being in a foreign place is unpleasant and difficult, and wearing the veil eases some of the problems... Sometimes wearing the veil means that you attract the attention of the French people who hate Islam, but experiences like this make me more proud of being an Arab and a Muslim...you also feel safe when wearing the veil in any kind of situation-it is a protection as well as a sign of love of Islam."

-Maryam, a middle-aged textile factory worker living in France.

Extracts from Helen Watson, 'Women and the Veil: Personal Responses to Global Process', in Akbar S. Ahmed and Hastings Donnan (eds), Islam, Globalization and Postmodernity, London and New York; Routledge, 1994.

Western Perspective on the Veil

"And how pretty they look, these women draped like phantoms in their black silks. Their long veils do not completely hide them...They are simply placed over their hair and leave uncovered the delicat features, the gold necklet and the half-bared arms that carry on their wrists thick twisted bravelets of virgin gold. Pure Egyptians as they are, they have preserved the same delicate profile, the same elongated eyes, as mark the old goddesses carved in bas-relief on the Pharaonic walls. But some, alas, amongst the young ones have discarded their traditional costume, and are arryed a la franque, in gowns and hats. And such gowns, such hats, such flowers! The very peasants of our meanest villages would disdain them. Oh! Why cannot someone tell these poor little women, who have it in their power to be so adorable, that the beautiful folds of their black veils give to them an exquisite and characteristic distinction, while this poor tinsel, which recalls the mid-Lent carnivals, makes of them objects that excite our pity."

-Pierre Lot, Egypt, p.111

Decision to Veil in the UK

"My choice of the veil is one of the most important personal decisions of my life. I was at school thinking about applying to university...In that kind of world I felt that it was imiportant to dress so that people would know I was a Muslim...My decision to wear the veil also ties into my feelings of coming from this different kind of background. We are a British family but because of Islam and our links with Pakistan we have different values and traditions from the families of my non-Muslim friends...I would feel completely exposed without my veil. It is liberating to have the freedom of movement and to be able to communicate with people without being on show. It's what you say that's important not what you look like...At the same time wearing the veil makes me feel special, it's a kind of badge of identity and a sign that my religion is important to me...I find it easier to mix and get around in public and not be bothered by lecherous stares or worse. But these are just advantages of a certain style of dress which doesn't draw attention to the body or fit the Western stereotypes of sexy clothes. They don't have anything specific to do with Islam, they have more to do with being female in a sexist and male dominated society where women are judged by how they look."

-Nadia, a British-Asian medical student who adopted the veil at the age of sixteen.

Extracts from Helen Watson, 'Women and the Veil: Personal Responses to Global Process', in Akbar S. Ahmed and Hastings Donnan (eds), Islam, Globalization and Postmodernity, London and New York; Routledge, 1994.

Experiments with Fashion and Modesty

WARNING: This post may offend some people. The intention is only to inspire thought and provoke comments regarding the theory of the veil.

In the book The Fashion of Architecture by Bradley Quinn, the work of Hussein Chalayan was featured discussing the concept of sensuality and its association with revealing and concealing the body.

Here is a segment from the book (p. 22-23):

"Exploring the sensuality associated with revealing and concealing the body, fashion innovator Huseein Chalayan has even placed his catwalk audience under surveillance. In 1997 he sent models onto the catwalk wearing black chadors of varying lengths and nothing else, exploring the capacity of traditional Islamic dress to define and de-individuate the body by concealing the wearer's identity. The shortest chador exposed the model's body from the navel downward, while another model roamed the catwalk in only a yashmak. Both enabled the wearers to gauge the audience's reactions while remaining anonymous to the onlookers.



An expert on the social significance of veiling, Fadwa El Guindi points out that, 'dress form and behavior...are not accompanied by withdrawal, seclusion, or segregation'. With vision and mobility among the essential concerns of Islamic dress, the sense of privacy afforded by veiling is comparable to the refuge of a building, yet allows the wearer to wander freely.

Chalayan's inversion connects contemporary modes of visuality with this long tradition, demonstrating this power that masking can provide for a wearer who wishes to see and yet remain unseen."




***the picture was edited in order to avoid posting inappropriate nudity on this site.

Book Recommendation: Veil

Veil: Modesty, Privacy and Resistance
by Fadwa El Guindi



El Guindi discusses the relationship between "the veil" and space in her book Veil: Modesty, Priacy and Resistance. She brings up the topic of versitility of a piece of fabric:

"One property of the veil is its dynamic flexibility, which allows for spontaneous manipulation and instant changing of form. The quality of pull down to uncover or pull up to cover provides the wearer with the advantage of instant maneuvering." (p.97-98)

Another topic El Guindi brings up is the aesthetic relationship between the viewing screen of a burqa and the mashrabiyya:

"'the veil which women in Ghanyari wear can also be used in a similar way to the burqa as a kind of 'shutter' from the gaze of the public in general...' While all face veils have the same property- 'transparency' for the wearer- the one that makes the point dramatically is the Afghan form. A veil- mashrabiyya visual comparison..." (p. 102)