Examining BSA Muslim women’s everyday experiences of veiling through concepts of ‘the veil’ and ‘double consciousness’

Abstract

ABSTRACT In The Souls of Black Folk W.E.B Du Bois conceptualised arguably two of the most significant and powerful theories of race and racism, that of ‘the Veil’ and ‘double consciousness’. This paper utilises the concept of the veil both literally, in the case of non/veiling acts of British South Asian (BSA) Muslim women living in Oldham, but also metaphorically, through the Veil, as a form of social and cultural exclusion of Muslim women in everyday interactions. The paper argues that the use of the Veil and double consciousness, is able to highlight the extent to which Muslim women actively reflect upon hegemonic discourses of the veil as oppression and veil as respectability which shape understandings of them. The paper contends that an analytical use of ‘double consciousness’ in particular, can highlight the nuanced experiences of BSA Muslim women’s everyday lives.