Korea’s response to Islam and Islamophobia: Focusing on veiled Muslim women’s experiences

Abstract

Islamophobic attitudes are becoming increasingly prevalent world wide, and Muslim women’s veils have emerged recently as a powerful mark of Islamic identity. In the West, fear and hatred of Islam has been projected onto the veil; this has led to a rise in the victimization of veiled Muslim women. Considering the recent influx and visibility of veiled Muslim women in Korea due to the hallyu phenomenon and medical tourism since the early 2000s, this study explores how Kore ans respond to Islam and Islamophobia, focusing on the experiences of veiled Muslim women in Seoul. This study includes both Korean and non-Korean veiled Muslim women as research subjects in discerning whether the responses are derived from an Islamophobia or a result of Korean ethnocentrism. This research fills the gap in discourses of Islamic studies, which lack Asian viewpoints, as well as gives voice to the experiences of marginalized Muslim women in Korea.