The Veil Unveiled
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Illustrated with photographs, drawings, and cartoons gathered from popular culture, this provocative book demonstrates that the veil, the garment known in Islamic cultures as the hijab, holds within its folds a semantic versatility that goes far beyond current clichés and homogenous representations. Whether seen as erotic or as romantic, a symbol of oppression or a sign of piety, modesty, or purity, the veil carries thousands of years of religious, sexual, social, and political significance. Using examples from both the East and West--including Persian poetry, American erotica, Iranian and Indian films, and government-sanctioned posters--Faegheh Shirazi shows that the veil has become a ubiquitous symbol, utilized as a profitable marketing tool for enterprises as diverse as Penthouse magazine and Saudi advertising companies. She argues that perceptions of the veil change with the cultural context of its use and over time: in a Hindi movie the veil draws in the male gaze, in an Iranian movie it denies it; photographs of veiled women in Playboy aim to titillate a mainly male audience, while cartoons of veiled women in the same magazine mock and ridicule Muslim society; in 1928 Reza Shah of Iran denounced the veil as a conspicuous sign of backwardness, but 60 years later Ayatollah Khomeini promoted it as a sign of progress for the Islamic Revolution. Shirazi concludes that the practice of veiling, encompassing an amazingly rich array of meanings, has often become a screen upon which different people in different cultures project their dreams and nightmares. Her study also offers an engaging personal dimension, as she shares her feelings and reactions to physical aspects of the veil, which she has donned for decades on annual trips home to her native Iran. Faegheh Shirazi is assistant professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures in the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Texas, Austin. She is the author of book chapters and articles on issues related to women in Islam in numerous publications, including Critique and Journal for Critical Studies of the Middle East.
June. 224pp. 6 X 9. 0-8130-2084-0 Cloth, $55.00s For MasterCard/Visa holders, accumulate titles in the Shopping Cart and submit your order electronically.
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"An insightful and provocative book. . . . [It] leads to a better understanding of the veil and a debunking of current clichés."--Farzaneh Milani, University of Virginia |
