Glocalizing’ the Hijab: A Malaysian Perspective

Abstract

Abstract. This article examined the hijab, or the act of veiling as a transformative socialization agent for Malay-Muslims in Malaysia's multicultural state. Through the media, the hijab was purported as a progressive lifestyle with representations of veiled Muslim women who are predominantly Malay. Apart from upheavals of Islam and the globalization of veiling across Muslim-majority countries, local socio-political developments have commodified the hijab as a product of Malay sovereignty rather than a symbol of religious obligation. Malay-Muslim women are predisposed to media messages that altered conservative Malay-Muslim stereotypes through convergence of old and new media platforms. The article explores the local hijab phenomenon by examining its media movement and its influence towards attitudes and behaviours of audiences. The evolution and visibility of the hijab are analyzed in relations to multiplicity of the Malay-Muslim identity and its integration with transcultural ideas of the East and West. Findings indicate that acceptance of this dynamic cultural identity resonate through diversity of content and multitudes of accessibility.

Young Indonesian Muslim women consumer behavior toward modest sportswear

“…While for Yemeni women, they preferably see hijab as a part of their religious identity and culture (Jackson and Monk-Turner, 2015). On the other part of the world, Malaysian has a slightly shifting behavior, where a hijab becomes more of a determinant of their social status and the role of the veil as an adornment of faith have been decreasing (Hassim, 2017).…”

Malay Muslim Religious Ideology: Representations of Gendered Beauty Ideals in Women’s Magazines

“…Marketplace mythology is used to contest socially and institutionally dominant discourses of power (Thompson 2004). Hijab marketing in Malaysia has reconstructed the Malay Muslim identity in the public sphere as a determinant of social status (Hassim 2017). This coalescing of the media, market and religion construct and legitimize social hierarchies through which normative identity positions are institutionalized.…”

“…This allows for an imagined community of mythical construction of collective identity to be formed in the minds of members expressed through fashion. Further, local socio-political developments have commodified the hijab as a product of Malay sovereignty rather than a symbol of religious obligation (Hassim 2017) revealing underlying reverberations of cultural hegemony (see Süerdem 2016).…”

In Her Shoes: Transnational Digital Solidarity With Muslim Women, or the Hijab?

“…In some Western contexts, the hijab has become both a symbol of an Islamic identity and a public affirmation of trust in the system that guarantees freedom of religion and speech, as well as a symbol of anti-colonial solidarity and resistance to efforts to eradicate Islam in environments that are increasingly anti-Islamic (Haddad 2007). In addition to using the hijab as a form of solidarity against Islamophobia, modesty is revived in Muslim-majority countries as a uniform for cultured, modern Muslim women to illustrate Islam as a progressive religion 3 (Hassim 2016). The rise in practices of group solidarity could be explained by increased use of the hijab in some Western contexts (Fayyaz & Kamal 2014) where veiled women increasingly face Islamophobia.…”