April 22, 2013

The Darfur Sartorialist is an exhibition launched by Portuguese urban engineer, humanitarian and photographer Pedro Matos to showcase the colourful clothing and trendy fashion sense of women in Darfur, Sudan.

Photo from the Darfur Sartorialist (source).

Matos was in Darfur for three and a half years with the World Food Programme when he started taking these photographs in a country where it is apparently forbidden to do so. Initially surprised by the style and fashion that thrives in Darfur, contrary to Western images of the region as poor and suffering, as well as the freedom women enjoyed in Darfur, some of which he witnessed in the easy way men and women flirted with each other, Matos realised that fashion is not exclusive to Rome or New York.  It took the fashion of Darfuri women to enable Matos to realise that reality is more complex than the cliché of the oppressed, conservatively dressed and constantly fearful Muslim woman or of Darfur as a region associated with war, refugees and tragedy.

Upon confronting his personal conceptions of refugees, and of oppressed Muslim women, Matos began taking photos and was further surprised by the “Western gestures” some women took when posing for photographs. He was driven to sharing these photographs with fellow Westerners under the banner of the Darfur Sartorialist, loosely based on Scott Schuman’s The Sartorialist, a blog dedicated to the intersection between fashion and “daily life”. With the tagline “Darfur is fashionable. Beyond the conflict and the images engraved in our minds lies a proud people wearing colour combinations unlikely in the trendy West”, the Darfur Sartorialist aims to counter Western stereotypes of Muslim and African women. At once, the photos of fashionably dressed women in Darfur should lead viewers to question perceived notions of the oppressed Muslim women and the hopeless African continent. We are meant to see that African Muslim women, like Western women, are also concerned about how they look, and on a wider scale Africans are similar to Westerners despite the issues in the Islamic world. (more…)

April 15, 2013

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to catch up with director of the documentary film “Hip Hop Hijabis,” Mette Reitzel, who followed the lives of UK-based hip hop duo, Poetic Pilgrimage.

Poetic Pilgrimage consists of two Muslim convert women, Tanya Muneera Williams and Sukina Owen-Douglas, who have shaken the U.K hip hop scene.  Combining their rapping and singing skills, these two women manage to beautifully intertwine their faith with their Jamaican culture and love for hip hop. To these women, there exists no contradiction in their faith and their journey as musicians.

I managed to ask Muneera some questions through email about her thoughts on the upcoming documentary, her relationship with Sukina, some challenges within the hip hop scene, and intertwining culture with Islam.

(more…)

March 19, 2013

This post was written by guest contributor Shireen Ahmed (@_shireenahmed_).

One of the most exciting aspects of the Olympic Summer Games 2012 was that every participating nation sent in women athletes as part of their delegations. Media faithfully reported on the successes and stories of “hijab-clad” women participating in the London Games, the most prestigious sporting event the world of athletics has to offer.

Women who cover having a choice to participate in sport and represent their countries is definitely a global “win” for women and girls. They can be role models for active and healthy, provide leadership and mentorship, inspire and represent a truer sampling of the population. But does it also propel society’s obsession with hijab and Muslims women’s clothing?

Normalizing and including athletes who wear a headscarf, is important in the realm of sport, most of which has been dominated by athletes from privileged, Western countries.

Despite the attention, this was not the first Olympics in which Muslim women have participated nor have important history. There is quite a wonderful and relatively unknown Olympic and sporting history of Muslim women’s participation, dating back to mid-twentieth century. In fact, the first Muslim woman to win a gold medal was Nawal El Moutawakel, almost 30 years ago at the 1984 Summer Games in los Angeles. Ms. El Moutawakel is now an active and senior member of the International Olympic Selection Committee. There were also a large number of Muslimah athletes and first time Olympians (not all headscarf-wearing) with exceptional stories of determination, performance and passion for their sport. Amazingly, Turkey sent more female athletes to the 2012 Games than they did male athletes – most of whom do not wear a headscarf to compete.

However, there seems to be a bias from media and incessant focus on hijab-wearing athletes. (more…)

February 14, 2013

Last week, several major news outlets in Minnesota reported St. Paul police officers dressed as Somali women wearing hijab (I’ve included links here from Minnesota Public Radio; the stories also received coverage in local newspapers The Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press). Pictures of the police officers were found on Twitter and initiated a strong response by local activists.

The first image reported by outlets showed an off-duty St. Paul officer wearing a hijab with a cell phone tucked under his ear. His red clothing and nametag identify him as a Target store employee (where he works when he’s off duty). A second image shows another officer wearing an orange hijab while in blackface; it was anonymously shared a mere few days later. The images were brought to attention by local activists on Twitter, and prompted a response from the St. Paul Police Department.

A group of local activists responded to the problematic images by deconstructing the racist implications of the so-called “costume.” The images were brought to attention almost entirely on Twitter, alongside a #culturenotcostume hashtag. Comments associated with the original image of the man have since been deleted. I didn’t find any additional insight to explain why the photographs were taken, or why the officers chose the costume they did, beyond that the men chose to dress in hijab as a Halloween costume.

The local activists’ tumblr post identifies why the actions are problematic, and identifies tangible next steps for the involved individuals and organizations to take to ensure such situations don’t happen again. Their explanation of why cultural clothing should never be used as costume was clearly articulated, as it reminds readers of the appropriation it constitutes:

“Wearing culturally specific and revered expressions of identity as a costume is an offensive act and an expression of white privilege. These “costumes” perpetuate racial and cultural stereotypes, reduce entire communities to a set of props and qualities, and result in cultural appropriation and misrepresentation. To suggest that such behavior “may be perceived as offensive” makes any reaction to these racist caricatures a question of sensitivity or feelings. We need to recognize that being upset about such costumes is not a reflection of a person’s hypersensitivity or lack of humor. Rather, it points to the very real power, consequences, and trauma that come with stereotypes and racism.”

The group goes on to ask the institutions involved—namely St. Paul Police and Target—reconsider their institutional attitudes towards Somalis and to strengthen ties with the community. The group reminds readers that the actions of the officers affects many other groups in addition to Somalis and could have further implications: “acts of racism also raise red flags with other communities of color and will undoubtedly fuel mistrust between law enforcement agencies and communities.”

What struck me, looking back at how the two examples were brought to attention on Twitter, was the strength and swiftness of the response both by local reporters and activists as the images were brought to light. The images were first discussed publicly on Twitter, and elicited responses from the police department directly—both on Twitter and in real life as the police chief and one of the men offered their apologies. It was fascinating to see how local, online engagement of bringing the images to attention on Twitter spilled over to its discussion in the news.

The interplay between the news stories,Twitter conversations, and response from activists raises several questions for me: Would this important dialogue been able to have taken place offline and outside the Twittersphere? How would a community response have differed (or even take place?) Without such a strong initial response entirely online, would it have received the amount of coverage it did by local media outlets?

And looking beyond how the stories were reported and the responses it elicited: Why exactly did the men choose to dress as Somali women? What was their intention behind choosing to wear a hijab? We know nothing about the commentary associated with the original images to glean if their intention was to mock Somali women, or if they had some other positive sort of intention. While the activist response was to take offense, with clearly articulated reasons for why it was offensive that elicited condolences from those responsible, would everyone consider the images or actions offensive?

The recent World Hijab Day, which asks non-Muslim women to wear hijab for a day to experience what it means to wear it (or maybe what it means to be Muslim–I haven’t quite been able to determine what purpose it serves) also came to my mind. What is it about a White man dressed in hijab that is so clearly offensive compared to non-Muslim women wearing hijab for a day? Yes, the intentions of those participating might be taken into account. But at the end of the day, will either the men or women wearing hijab really know what it’s like to be a Muslim woman?  Will they understand the cultural context fundamental to one’s identity or the myriad of spiritual beliefs and understanding that accompanies someone throughout their personal religious journey?

February 12, 2013

Who comes to mind when hip hop and Islam are mentioned in the same sentence? Maybe hip hop and rap icons like Lupe Fiasco or Napoleon. The music genre and the religion have a long and intimate history; however, how many female artists come to mind?

In the U.K., a duo of women called Poetic Pilgrimage has been mixing their Jamaican culture, their politics and their Islam into the fabrics of England’s music scene. Made up of Sukina Abdul Noor and Muneera Rashida, the pair’s stories as two young women who converted to Islam and who utilize their musical talent drew the interest of Danish filmmaker Mette Reitzel.

In a documentary entitled “Hip Hop Hijabis,” Reitzal follows the two musicians for a period of three years, documenting their lives as black Muslim women musical artists and advancing women’s rights through their art. (more…)

February 5, 2013

This post was written by guest contributor Shireen Ahmed. A version of this post was previously posted on her blog.

Every year there are a group of women who celebrate, support and participate in World Hijab Day. This year February 1, 2013 marked the day where women all over the world would be “invited” to wear a scarf on their head in solidarity with Muslim sisters across the globe.

This phenomenon has garnered much attention. It has exploded through social media and has been embraced by Muslim women and young girls who may see it as an opportunity to clarify, teach and share. Women have written about it and chronicled their feelings, their emotions and how it made them feel. Ironically, this was supposed to have them relate to and think about the Muslim covered woman facing challenges. Instead it has many of them not reflecting on their own feelings and how that should affect the world with regards to hijab.

Although some of these reflections may be respectful and have kind intentions, others are blatantly narcissistic . Some are from Muslim women just having a “go” at it while trying complete their daily routine – all covered up. How unfathomable! They all use clever taglines like “Under the veil”, “From beneath the veil”, and “Undercover”. They pose such groundbreaking questions as “How do people perceive me?” to the very insightful “How do I see myself?” and my personal favourite: “Am I more liberated and less oppressed by this hijab?”

As much as I am interested in sharing, dialogue and debate, as a hijab-clad woman, my concern is not, and will never be how other women “feel” about a hijab that they do not wear regularly. I shall elaborate. (more…)

October 25, 2012

It’s that time of year again: the weather is getting cooler, the leaves are changing colour, my students are stressed about midterm season…  and for the past couple weeks, the Pink Hijab Day invitations have been popping up in my newsfeed.

Pink Hijab Day is an annual event, taking place in October each year (this year’s was actually yesterday in most places).  According to the Global Pink Hijab Day 2012 Facebook event, the event “was intended to remove stereotypes of Muslim women by having Muslims engage in dialogue about breast cancer awareness, joining walks in groups while wearing pink headscarves, and holding other events promoting awareness and support for the cause.”  From what I’ve seen of the descriptions of specific events, these tend to involve bake sales or other fundraisers, lots of Muslim girls (and some Muslim guys) wearing lots of pink, some information about breast cancer, some information about Muslim women, and at times even a chance for non-Muslim women to try on headscarves themselves (pink ones, of course).  The event is described as being international, but nearly all of the news that I’ve seen on it has covered events in Canada and the United States, so that’s the context I’ll focus on here too.

Before I continue, let me make a few things clear:

1. Breast cancer is a really terrible disease, and one that affects increasing numbers of women worldwide.  I say that as someone with a number of friends and relatives who have gone through it, and I don’t want anything in this post to sound like I’m taking it lightly.

2. Many people work really hard to fight breast cancer, whether this consists of educating people about it, raising money for cancer research and treatment, providing medical or emotional support for those experiencing breast cancer, or many other efforts.  These are all important and much needed, and I’m glad that so many people are active in this area.

3. Following from the previous point: the people who organise Pink Hijab Day events around the world usually work really hard and have really good intentions, and I have a lot of respect for that.  Nothing that I say in this post is meant to belittle or disrespect the efforts of any individual organisers.

But having said all of this, I have to admit that Pink Hijab Day makes me really uncomfortable.  I hate to be the Grinch Who Stole Pink Hijab Day, but there are a few things going on that I just can’t get behind. (more…)


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