Read: el Guindi, Veil, chapters 10-12 (pages 161-185)
Brenner, "Reconstructing Self and Society: Javanese Muslim Women and 'the Veil'"
Abu-Lughod, "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others"

1. Why, according to el Guindi, has veiling become popular in Egypt, Algeria, Palestine, and Iran? Among whom has it become popular? What messages does veiling convey?

2. El Guindi writes, "The enforcement of hijab can be as empowering as its ban. While it undoubtedly restricts some women, it emancipates others by legitimizing their presence in public life" (175). What does she mean? Do you agree?

3. El Guindi writes that veiling can be a part of a form of Islamic feminism. What is Islamic feminism? What visions of women's liberation are involved? How does Islamic feminism differ from other feminisms?

4. Why are women in Java choosing to wear jilbab? How, according to Brenner, is this form of Islam modernist?

5. What kinds of generational issues, particularly between parents and daughters, have accompanied the rise of Islamic movements over the past three decades?

6. Brenner suggests that veiling has qualities of self-discipline similar to those of the panopticon described by Foucault. What does she mean?

7. Why does Abu-Lughod find the rhetoric about saving Afghan women problematic? What does she see as the dangers of cultural relativism?

Journal entry: Veiling, due in class on Friday, December 1.
For this entry, you are to consider your own impressions about what veiling means. Before doing the reading for this unit, what ideas and attitudes did you have about the practice? Have the readings altered your impressions?

For more information, contact: aleshkow@holycross.edu