Fashion, performance and the politics of belonging among Muslim women in Cape Town
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Date
2013
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This thesis explores how the hijab fashion market has emerged in Cape Town and
how Capetonian Muslim women are appropriating hijab fashion as a means of
redefining themselves as Muslim South Africans instead of ?Cape Malays?, the ethnic
label given to Muslims in the Western Cape during the apartheid era. I argue that
through self stylisation Cape Malay women are performatively rejecting the
ethnicisation of Islam during apartheid. I show that ?Cape Malay? women are using
hijab fashion to perform their ?Muslimness? in order to claim a positive and legitimate spot in the ?rainbow nation? as Muslims as a religious-cultural category, and not as ?Malays?, an ethnic category, while simultaneously claiming their belonging to the global umma (Muslim community)
Description
Magister Artium - MA
Keywords
Muslim women, Cape Malay, Islamic wear, Hijab fashion, Self stylisation, Performance, Belonging, International Umma, Cape Town, South Africa