The Veil
Subtitle: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: June 16, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9780520250406
Subjects: Anthropology; Gender Studies; Sociology, Social Studies; Social Science; Fashion & Grooming; Sociology; Anthropology - General; Beauty & Grooming - General; Social Science / Anthropology / General; Globalization
Description: This groundbreaking volume, written entirely by women, examines the vastly misunderstood and multilayered world of the veil. Veiling - of women, of men, and of sacred places and objects - has existed in countless cultures and religions from time immemorial. Today, veiling is a globally polarizing issue, a locus for the struggle between Islam and the West and between contemporary and traditional interpretations of Islam. But veiling was a practice long before Islam and still extends far beyond the Middle East. This book explores and examines the cultures, politics, and histories of veiling. Twenty-one gifted writers and scholars, representing a wide range of societies, religions, ages, locations, races, and accomplishments, here elucidate, challenge, and/or praise the practice. Expertly organized and introduced by Jennifer Heath, who also writes on male veiling, the essays are arranged in three parts: the veil as an expression of the sacred; the veil as it relates to the emotional and the sensual; and the veil in its sociopolitical aspects. This unique, dynamic, and insightful volume is illustrated throughout. It brings together a multiplicity of thought and experience, much of it personal, to make readily accessible a difficult and controversial subject.