Orientalism: from unveiling to hyperveiling

Unveiled Sentiments: Gendered Islamophobia and Experiences of Veiling among Muslim Girls in a Canadian Islamic School

“…Although women's practices of veiling predate the Islamic context, this symbol has entered into the popular imagination in Western societies as the quintessential marker of the Muslim world and as a practice synonymous with religious fundamentalism and extremism. In this conception, the bodies of veiled women operate as cultural signifiers of social difference and social threat and represent fidelity to a patriarchal order, which is a danger to women's autonomy (Bullock, 2002;MacMaster & Lewis, 1998;Read & Bartkowski, 2000). These notions can be traced back to their Orientalist origins where depictions of veiled Muslim women in the colonial imaginary ranged from oppressed and subjugated women, to the highly sexualized and erotic imagery of the sensual, yet inaccessible, harem girl (Alloula, 1986;Bullock, 2000Bullock, , 2002Hoodfar, 1993;Kahf, 1999;Mabro, 1991;MacMaster & Lewis, 1998;Said, 1979;Yegenoglu, 1998;Zine, 2002).…”

History, Memory and Trauma in Photography of the Tondues: Visuality of the Vichy Past through the Silent Image of Women

“…Images of women wearing the more extreme head-to-foot covering of the Iranian chador have often appeared alongside news exposés about the headscarf debate, in spite of the fact that most Muslim women in France are of North African origin and are hence more likely -if they wear anything at all -to wear a scarf that covers merely their hair. 88 Here again women are suggested as an alibi for a form of national nonconsensus this time presented by fears of Islamic influence on French culture. Here again gender acts as a vehicle for a politics that is invoked not (or not only) by verbal assertion but by visual repetition.…”

‘The hips don't lie’: Dancing around gendered, ethnic, and national identity in Israel

“…The 'Orientalist' gaze (Lazreg, 1994;Macmaster, 1998;Sellers-Young, 1992) that originated in the romantic movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was attracted to sexualised depictions of Arab women as the paradox between being totally covered and being sexually seductive belly dancers within the Harem culture. This was captured in early film, creating a group of famous belly dancers who started performing publicly (Sellers-Young, 1992).…”