Social experiments can be so much fun. And apparently journalists seem to agree. A few months ago we reported on one such experiment by Danielle Crittenden. She donned the abaya and niqab to live a day in the life of a niqabi Muslim woman. Well, we’ve come across another similar experiment, this time in Sudbury, Ontario. In a Sudbury Star article, Lara Bradley engages in a similar experiment in the small Canadian city. She dons the niqab and abaya and... Read more
The latest issue of TIME features a photo essay and article on American Muslims. From a magazine that featured a cover “Should Christians Convert Muslims?” (June 30, 2003) and headlines like “Does the Koran Condone Killing?” (Sept. 13, 2004), this latest coverage is markedly different. There’s nothing shocking, and it gives a hint to why TIME might make the rest of its coverage of Muslims so inflammatory. These new pieces are, frankly, dull. A personal essay on being a Muslim... Read more
I didn’t know about this until now; I think vacation made me soft. Anyway, Aaminah is hosting a carnival for Muslim women. The rules are simple: “Write on your blog about your perspective as a Muslim woman. Anywhere in the world, any issue that is of importance to you. Poetry, short story, essay, article, standard blog post, heck we’ll even take artwork or photos!; long, short, whatever. Family, deen & faith, inspiration, Islamic art, media representation, women’s rights, education –... Read more
Queen Rania of Jordan has posted her own video on YouTube, entitled, “Send me your stereotypes.” Her aim is to break down stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims through YouTube (I assume she focuses only on Arabs because she herself is Arab; however, this is problematic for the majority of Muslims who are not Arab but whose cultures are stereotyped similarly). It’s an admirable aim, but is it going to work? So far, there are 35 responses. They come from Italy,... Read more
If you’re a devoted Friday Links reader, you might have noticed that the two Adn Kronos International (AKI) stories from last Friday used the exact same stock photo (pictured below) of Muslim women to accompany their stories. “Well,” you think to yourself, “maybe the stories were similar. Like from the same part of the world or something.” But the similarities end at the sloppy cut-and-paste job. One story is about polygamous marriages in Italy, the other is about a Qatari... Read more
On fashionable head scarves. The Conservative Party in the U.K. has elected a Muslim woman as a prospective Parliamentary candidate. Muslim women in West Bengal are treated as unequal citizens, says the State Minority Affairs Minister. An unusually insightful (for a college newspaper, anyway) article about hejab and religious patriarchy. The American Islamic Congress (AIC) held a forum on April 1 on stopping women trafficking in the Muslim world. In Germany, Islamic Women’s Center for Research and Encouragement helps Muslim... Read more
Ammar from Little Mosque on the Prairie said “Muslims around the world are known for their sense of humour.” Unfortunately the sarcasm of this comment escapes no one because, in fact, Muslims are not known for their sense of humour. Quite the opposite. However, recent years have seen efforts to change this image. Muslim comedians have been springing up in the Western world and making quite the name for themselves. After all, what better time to joke about stereotypes and... Read more
I recently came upon the film Daughters of Afghanistan in my local library. I wasn’t sure of what to expect, but upon watching it I was pleasantly surprised. The 2004 documentary is a refreshingly clear look at the lives of Afghan women following the fall of the Taliban after the 2001 American invasion. Canadian journalist Sally Armstrong traveled to Afghanistan multiple times to interview women across the social and class spectrum and track the changes in their lives. She presents... Read more
This is going to be a quick post, because I’m still sick, it’s the first week of school so I have a lot of other things on my mind, and I’m defending my piece of crap thesis in three weeks and am freaking out about it. Because of all this, I’m having a hard time getting my thoughts together, but I wanted to write something about the big womens-only hours at Harvard’s gym uproar. And here’s what I want to... Read more
MMW thanks Carmen for the tip! The Shameless blog recently covered The Burka Band, a group of Afghan women who sing punky songs about the burqa. There are some pretty funny and poignant lines. And it’s a catchy beat! Here’s their song/video. Discuss. Read more
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