The Politics of What You Wear on Your Head

Abstract

For more than a century Turkish politics has been preoccupied with numerous debates focusing on the headwear of both men and women. As an indicator of the religious, ethnic and cultural affinities of the people who use or refrain from utilizing a particular sort of headwear, this issue has gained enormous political importance during particular time periods. This article argues that the overemphasis on certain types of headwear, namely the fez, top hat and headscarf, have figured at particular times as state policy, although their longevity as an issue was relative. Instead, the significance of the headwear continues its importance through metamorphosing the debate to another style of headwear. Despite arguments suggesting that women's attire has been at the core of Turkish modernization since the assertion of modern identities, which usually have been defined over women's issues, this article argues that it has been very important what both men and women wear on their head since modern dichotomies have classified both men's and women's identities, recognition and exclusion over their headwear. The state, as the modernizing actor of the masses, has stressed people's attire and in particular their headwear, as an ideological instrument.