Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Williams, Rhys H.
• Vashi, Gira

Titel

Hijab and American Muslim Women: Creating the Space for Autonomous Selves

Ist Teil von

• Sociology of religion, 2007-10, Vol.68 (3), p.269-287

Ort / Verlag

Washington: Oxford University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2007

Quelle

Oxford Journals 2020 Social Sciences

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Among Muslims living in the United States, Islamic religious practices are negotiated and adapted to a new culture. A visible and controversial symbol of Muslims' differences from dominant American Christianity is the hijab worn by many Muslim women. The decision to wear hijab occurs within a two-fold cultural context: (1) the assumption by many non-Muslims that hijab encapsulates Islam's inherent violation of women's “equal rights”; and (2) a widespread Muslim critique of American culture for its individualism, materialism, and lax sexual mores. Using data from interviews and observations with college-age, second-generation Muslim Americans, we explore the context, meanings, and consequences of wearing hijab. Second-generation Muslim women are negotiating social and religious identities in contrast both to non-Muslim Americans and to their immigrant families. Hijab has multiple meanings as a religious and social symbol; it provides a clear identity marker at a life-course transitional time, and it provides culturally legitimate space for young women who are formulating Muslim-American identities