what we pay attention to: on hijabis
Caveats/Preambles: Non-Muslim cis gay man here writing from Australia
Two main images: The hijab as symbol of women’s oppression under violent and patriarchal Islam The hijab as symbol of Muslim resistance against violent and paternalistic white/Western imperialism The hijab as expression of spiritual commitment to God
“Which is true?” is the wrong question; it imagines that truth is singular, or can be discovered or derived through dialogue, synthesis... perhaps this too, is true... yet
My caveat, my preamble Is The Point --> That to say anything about the subject is already a declaration of my subjectivity, to raise any subject for scrutiny is always simultaneously a revelation of my own painfully obvious subjectivity
I am just as interested in the humanity of the hijabi woman (whether in empathy for lived experience under patriarchal and/or WesternImperialist oppressive conditions) as I am in the person who makes declarations in relation to the subject, whether the ex-hijabi speaking out against patriarchy, the hijabi intellectual speaking out against Islamophobia/calling for passionate reform within Islam, the hijabi woman who lives modestly without supporting authoritarian interpretations of her actions, the Islamophobic non-Muslim, the conscientious middle-class Leftist objector...