Bobby Bleistein

In imagining Arab womanhood by Amira Jarmakani; VEILED INTENTIONS: THE CULTURAL MYTHOLOGY OF VEILS, HAREMS, AND BELLY DANCERS IN THE SERVICE OF EMPIRE, SECURITY, AND GLOBALIZATION, the image of an Arab woman is first stated. This is a woman who is veiled and a woman who is a belly dancer. This is the common assumption of what Arab woman do and wear. This assumption is not only used to describe Arab women around the world but especially in the United States. Another things stated in this article were the threat of Arab women due to race. “I trace the shifting function of orientalist images of Arab and Muslim womanhood in relation to the configuration of Arabs and Muslims as foreign threat and enemy other in the contemporary context.” This is a very common misconception in America today. Because of the international relations and the problem that have occurred many people have this misconception that everyone of that skin tone/race is against the country in someway or another. In the section labeled, THE AFGHAN GIRL AS CASE STUDY, Amira, describes a situation in which an “Afghan girl”, was photographed for a magazine and was to not be seen again until 2002. This story was very big in the media; national geographic did a documentary called, ”In search for the afghan girl”.  This was important because it helped to view afghan women in a new light. Also brought up in this chapter was the fact that afghan woman, during the time of the Taliban attacks on America, especially 9/11, were seemingly trapped behind their veils. This is a very interesting statement made, woman of the cultures who wear veils have a reason whether it is due to religious purposes, or because everyone else has one, but for them to be trapped I feel that it means that these women are more trapped within the stereotypes of being terrorist and being different. These stereotypes still exist today and this chapter helps to show why this occurs.

In the other side of the veil, by Killan, head scarf affairs and issues are assessed. In the case of the 3 North African women, who were expelled due to their wearing of headscarfs, were wearing headscarfs and would not take them off. This caused a huge surge in political and social affair controversy.  “Meaning is not inherent in objects but, rather, is socially constructed around them (Best 1998)” this quote is in reference to the veils of these women. In many cases especially with differing age groups, eras, generations the veil has a different representation and significance to the individual wearing it. Also within this chapter, an experiment/ survey was done that analyzed 11 people. This survey shows that head scarfs/ veils are acceptable. Also in this chapter the overall question of should women be able to wear a veil. In another survey, 16 people were for allowing veils and 12 people were against veils. For those who allowed the veil, many reasoned that it was more important for those students to go to class no matter what they wear. For those who said no, they argued that it causes a reason for racism and intolerance. Also it would be against the religious views of the schools, schools should not incorporate religion. I feel that it shouldn’t matter what one wears to school as long as it is proper and not implying any form of racism or indifference towards another race. And as one person stated, once these females grown and go to higher levels of educating, they have a choice to either keep or rid the veil.