Political Embodiments of the Hijab in Narratives of Iraqi Refugee Women in Diaspora

Abstract

This article explores how young displaced Iraqi Sunni Muslim women negotiate religious identity in diaspora, and how veiling becomes an expression of a new politicised Islamic feminism. Veiling continues to be the focus of ideological debates about Islam and women's rights in the Muslim world and in the global diaspora of displaced refugees. Young refugee and migrant women fi nd themselves at the intersection of new and old Muslim communities, secular and religious feminisms, and fi rst-and second-generation ideals of female modesty.Based on oral histories conducted with Arab and Kurdish Sunni Iraqi women now resettled in the Toronto and Detroit areas, the article traces a new trend in grassroots religiosity among young women in diaspora. New forms of a politicised religious subjectivity, in this case through veiling, suggest that these young women actively mobilise around a religiously constituted political consciousness. As a 'speech act' wearing hijab can in part be understood as a political performance that embodies the intersections of religious and non-religious symbolism. As the article argues, it is as migrants located at the intersection of new and old imaginaries of a global Umma that these reimagined religious subjectivities are forged.

Perceptions Reasons and Barriers in Observing Purdah (Hijab) among Female Undergraduate Medical Students

“…This article discusses young displaced Sunni Iraqi Muslim girls, that how a new place becomes their identity and veiling becomes compulsory to save themselves. Even the second generation Iraqi women also practiced Purdah/Hijab and it had no negative effects, they could move about freely and work as well [26].…”

In the Forefront and on the Margins: Jews, Secularism and Women's Liberation in Ontario and British Columbia, 1960s–1980s

“…It also dismisses the agency of Muslim women, ignoring the varied meanings that can lie behind the wearing of hijabs -as Nadia Jones-Gailani has shown so well -as well as overlooking the complexity of religious women's perspectives more generally. 54 An unyielding feminist secularism that sees itself as neutral and unmarked, but in fact has its own complex history of exclusion, is part of the problematic legacy of second-wave feminism that remains with us today. 55…”

Forum Introduction: Challenging Orthodoxies: Religion, Secularism and Feminism Among English‐Canadian Women, 1960s–1980s

“…Women whose feminism is less recognisable, or less acceptable, as it runs counter to many key tenets of mainstream feminism, such as the moralistic antiabortion Pentecostal preacher discussed in this Forum by Linda Ambrose, or many Muslim feminists who argue for the value of the veil or hijab, have been less studied. 5 In step with other scholarship that privileges women's 'self-authoring', our work is premised on listening to women's voices, through oral history and/or life writing, as they express themselves about feminism, religion and irreligion. 6 We are convinced this approach holds great promise for understanding women who self-identify as feminist and negotiate their relationships with institutional religion whether that means embracing, critiquing or rejecting faith communities.…”