Between Sacred Codes and Secular Consumer Society: The Practice of Headscarf Adoption among American College Girls1

Abstract

Most studies on the practice of headscarf adoption focus on political nature of the practice; and therefore, obscure potential multiple meanings of veiling. As an alternative approach, following the post-hermeneutic analysis, our work contends for review of a neglected cultural side of the headscarf adoption: as performances of the Muslim self. The headscarf practice in American colleges provides a rich venue to an inquiry of Muslim girls’ uneasiness and resistance they face in everyday life in a secular consumer society. Torn between dominant secular norms in the capitalist society and values of Islamic faith, most American Muslim college girls see their practice of wearing headscarves as “liberating” and “empowering”. This research shows how headscarf adoption practice suggests a wide-ranging repertoire for multiple identity constructions of American Muslim college girls, including primarily religious, feminine, moral and communal identities.