01 codified
ill',tituti()lliliiz<ltion
"citizen" are complex
stitution
01 the
questions
are relevant
a different
within
behavior
state, citizenship,
and the legal system.
to my exploration
type of investigation,
the scope
mechanisms
of this study.
employed
which
opportunities
though
Because citizenship
with surveillance
as it has an undeniable
2
presconsti-
comes with a bundle of rights,
legal, and constitutional
that come with these rights.
there may be incentives
these
they require
bodies to its gaze and thereby
as a citizen entails the financial,
and constraints
Although
I will not be able to undertake
r am concerned
by the state insofar
tuting them as citizens.
of the
about the con-
of the public sphere,
Here
ence in the public sphere, subjecting
being recognized
and the interpellation
issues that raise a series of questions
Therefore,
for the bearers of underprivileged
ties to avoid the public gaze, there are also incentives
and recognized by the gaze of the state as "citizens"
rights granted to them by this status.
al-
identi-
for them to be seen
in order to enjoy the
Clothing the National Body:
Islamic Veiling and Secular Unveiling
The body is one of the most important
tions take place and the parameters
The body
emerges
for two reasons.
the nation
i1S
of the public sphere
a significant
First, it stands
sites where modernizing
site of interventions
building
of a nation
tions and inscriptions
upon the body, whether
clothing,
of an order of bodily
another
the creation
forged roles, such as mother
the formation
phorically
distinctions
employed
I
f
II
I
III
II
f
i
/1
r
II!I
t i f
I (\
II
'1.'
II
II
I
III'
II
11/' II,
through
the
interven-
the regulation
of
or the assignment
and the establishment
of
are established.
In other words, the body is meta-
not only as a symbol of the nation and its boundaries,
of the public and the pri-
of the national
public subject.
De-
tht, parts of the hody that arc to he open to the public gaze,
p;lI\' lit;ll .m: 10 n'lll;lill hiddl'll,
I'r
across
space of the body itself is one of the spaces where
vau: arc drawn toward the construction
oj
involve different
aesthetics,
hut also as a material space where the boundaries
IlTlllill;ll io"
of
or soldier, all serving one way or
of a sense of nationhood
state power.
Second, the physical
public-private
movements
the female body as a symbol of the nation. I Hence,
of a state and the creation
of carefully
symbols
and power are often represented
in the body of the ruler, the head of the state. Nationalist
the world employ
are established.
and negotiations
out as one of the most potent
and the state. State authority
interven-
;1I1dtl1l' Ill;1Il11lTin which tllis di'iplay is to
t , "
-
" I ,-
I,.. , .Illwd out i, one or the most effective
means through
.III", th;ll m.irk the public and the private are drawn,
with legard
to the body, especially
parts in certain
covering
public places and not in others,
tool by which boundaries
or contested,
the strategic
that constitute
This chapter
investigates
which
Hence,
of certain
can become
Targeting
the public sphere are established
both the metaphorical
the body as the symbol
involve
as that which
liberation
the incrimination
is corrupt
or some other political
and the ma-
ably the female
body,
interventions
the female body as the victim-body
as the hero-body
its protection
plays an essential
to represent
state power.
agency
Hence,
and legitimates
that allows the exertion
The cases examined
site of intense
in the constitution
into a nation
illustrate
and
as the symbol
of
gains
It is this agency
in Turkey
that the body has been a
both by the founding
state in the
of the 1990s, In both cases, interventions
precariousness
posed by its immediate
that construed
circumstances,
and agency.
I
I,
power
I'
1\1
II
I
i
,I ."
(l II II
establish-
a better future, In both cases
the symbol
of political
asit as
that would bring libera-
of the nation,
t IJ iI/II
"!Ilancipator
of this section
to institutionalize
condition
but through
/
H
II
II )'
is
visual dis-
is that the body has emerged
and Islamist modernizing
their political
ideologies
of the body and establishing
and protector,
Seeing
this power
and to transform
111eIslamists used the medium
of the body
and subvert
official national
as a
projects
by defam-
themselves
II''lei, the state used it in the 1920s in order to institute
as its
as a political
the norms of the
ideology
into the norm,
of the body in similar ways in the 1990s in
established
ideologies,
norms of the public and to pro-
This comparison
Ihe secular state used the body in realizing
I.Jamists employed
of
Islam in the
the public sphere
suggests
its modernization
the body as a site for interventions
that just as
project,
the
in implementing
of modernization,
11)[ COHsliMive Power oj C/olhil1g
(Iothing
is perhaps
, ategorized,
.oncealcd
.1 symbol
the most effective
displayed,
as private,
and opened
Studies on clothing
of social status, ethnicity,
I lowever, clothing
tool by which
and the male as
In both cases the
dlld age, Clothing
differentiation
as
values and life styles.?
is constitutive
of subjectivities.
race, religion,
so as to allow for public recognition
into these identity
I' t o be recognized
t
up and
its function
just of status or class, and it is not a
Rather, clothing
marks bodies
are marked,
or covered
tend to highlight
and individual
is not an indicator
.,ign of an a priori identity,
bodies
up to the public,
( .lothing inscribes bodies with gender, class, status, ethnicity,
tion to the female body and carry her toward
n
of
of the nation
of a new state and
the female body was taken as the symbol
(' I
Illg the current
of political
and discussion
for both secularist
Iklt have sought
by the
and performances,
The main argument
',Ill' of intervention
sphere
and the significance
the ways in which
debate
the Hat
and
along the lines of a particular
ing the male body as the agent of transformation
and source
I"l med not so much around
national
include
in the public
pageant
as the symbol
cases also illustrate
rlu ir own project
gendering
the male/state
the building
toward
in this chapter
to the threats
to the
pages, while the female body
the female/nation,
to the female body a particular
vulnerable
This strategic
of power
1920s and by the Islamists
cribed
as vulnerable
interventions,
interventions
These
Illote their own national
its transformative
the transformation
of society
nationalist ideology.
I'I<J()s,
images
beauty
that emerged
'>ider to contest
the male body emerges
by rescuing
III<'Islamic headscarf
of contending
The cases examined
of women's
the male
body,
in the following
the nation,
I ,II\' and the promotion
of underconstitute
for the advancement
projects,
',l.lle, as well as a state-sponsored
also target
that has the power and will to liberate
function
the state, As is illustrated
comes
confines and
it, the male body is simultaneously
the female
as the medium
and po litical
subject that is capable
that is portrayed
that surround
take under
bodies
can then project
In other words, while interventions
constituted
the state
the role of the victim is invari-
it as the "modern"
conditions
«l.nlogtes
IlIlhlic sphere
modernizing
taking this transforrnatton
I" «lv emerged
inter-
it as in need of
whether
agenda,
T
1,I.IV5,bodily inscriptions,
of the body
the body from its present
this body that is assigned
body so as to constitute
deprecating
framing
subject,
actor with a modernizing
state and
modernizing
condition
thereby
The intervening
itself as the savior who will liberate
take it toward its deserved future,
Even though
of the nation,
of the present
and impaired,
and transforrnanon.
body
an important
terial functions of the body in the building of the new Turkish
the Islamist contestations
that developed in thel990s,
ventions
bound-
intervention
categories,
determining
whether
and
a body
as male or female, upper class or lower class, young or
'/.1, secular or religious, It gives a particular visibility to bodies, subjecting
t lum to the public gaze, but it also covers up certain
dl'11Y;Keess to the public gaze, thereby
Thl' lunction
"I p()litic"
constituting
and effects of clothing
Sl'l'lllillgly
dismissed
<IS
body parts so as to
them as private,
tend to be overlooked
in the study
trivial, or at least as secondary
'.111"."I "hil:IH'I" polilic;ll illlport;IIH:t', such as prt ihihit ivc military
/
III
I ,.
f
II '/
1/,
r
N
d
I r
l'
II"
I
If
II
,I r
to isor other
authoritative
sphere.
measures
However,
used by states
regulations
to control
and codes
and monitor
the public
disruptive
to clothing
and attire
undermining
W'hether
related
have been crucial tools by which states have constituted
authority
borders,
not only within
as in colonial
lonial presence
national
public spheres,
settlements.
and authority
of order and discipline
Helen
regulating
the rulers" and demonstrates
minute
of dress codes
suits, hats, shoes, and accessories,
Callaway
a heavy weight
space from Indian space, masculinity
tain class distinctions
ing of bodies
imposing
effects of clothing
for differentiation
certain
meaning
of clothes
tutive power, but also their physical
body is coerced
for beauty,
symbolic
dictates
provides
has a constitutive
or in concealing
is a good
effect
certain
example
which
related to fashion and aesthetics,
vein, lslarnist
to Turkey
body
of how the
standards
is meant
which
to be
of
in turn serve
writer
Abdurrahman
by modernity
which
Arslan argues
Arslan
modernity
illustrates
tension
and Westernization
was blue jeans, now
( I
(I
I
I,
I
II
styles, and spatial
1/
Il, {'
N ,/
I)()
I
! {I II II
"....
I
prayer,
of prayer." Arslan
articles
of clothing
arrangements
11" ,I
r
as
have hilt!
its source
First, regulations
and interventions
During
headscarf
national
of a modern,
distinctions
bodies and body parts,
(IS
of
of the public
During
served
and monitored
of alternative
public
the 1990s,
by the secular-
conceptualizations
public-private
the
to destabilize
distinctions
of the
involve
well as social spaces and places. Bodies and body
as spaces upon which the public and private are established,
serves to conceal
the distinctions
between
or to reveal body parts, thereby
re-vealing others
(namely
sphere,
Ily dehnition,
and potent
function
of clothing
that it is always constituted
the private
t hc boundaries
marking
upon
to and dependent
is private.
Marking
ollhe
I /' • /l.1
",
to the public.
to the public gaze, so its
upon the public.
are formed
the public is constituted.
illl' bourularics
tI
reveals a key feature of
in relation
is that which is closed
of the "public"
.IIHI mnrk iru; that which
( I
thereby
body parts and
of the public and the private defined by Islam.
is always in relation
Ihl()lIl~h which
certain
the face and the hands),
the hody the boundaries
This particular
marking
public and private upon the body. Islamic veiling
very much the same way, by concealing
di'pLllilll:
to the clothing
in the public sphere,
type of clothing
maintained
where clothing
Ihe private
of
agency
West-oriented
was created.
public and the private. These contested
parts emerge
related
of the new Islamic veiling?
the negotiation
of political
years of the Turkish state, such
subject
as a particular
public-private
ist gaze, forcing
is vested in its
life, making both
and transformation
the founding
a modern
with the emergence
non-
and contestation
and in the creation
served the establishment
1)(
one of the most
rendering
role in the construction
Interventions
nislcnce
It is perhaps
in daily life, due to its temporally
more effective.
in the public sphere
spheres.
coneffects
plays a crucial role in the con-
exponentially,
<phere where
w()rd"
hasty in its movements,
the tranquility
to argue that such modern
architectural
including
that when jeans are worn during
and disrupting
other examples
well as furniture,
how
has had transfer-
discursive
or structuring
the minute details of everyday
plays a crucial
and private
t he
in particular
For this reason, the power of an article of clothing
in Turkey.
religious
their holism and
quality. Once it enters the realm of the everyday,
proliferates
to work through
subjectivitics
to Arslan, one of the articles of clothing
forces the body to be involuntarily
creating
certainly
of subjectivities.
control and contestation
operates
as casual daily wear for all sorts of occasions,
prayers.'
their tightness
thereby
In other words, it
effect that imposes upon the body the
is one of the means through
worn extensively
regular
but also through
to the public gaze, works not as a conveyor
mative effects on Islam. According
brought
categories,
the mark-
and classing of bodies.
In a similar
locatable.
capacity
Clothing
British
and to main-
figure that is set by the prevalent
but as a physical
type of clothing
interventions
not only through
and social class. The corset,
and invisible
of standards
of
<1
altering
revealing,
hodies have been vital in the constitution
form, which
The corset
into a particular
meaning,
the gendering
clothing
up others.
aesthetics,
undetectable
dresses,
that imbues them with consti-
in giving shape to the body or to behavior
parts and opening
mean-
and authority
modes,
fOI-ms, figures, and modes onto bodies.
is not only the symbolic
clothing
.ind spatially proliferative
from the colonized,
operate
into identity
upon bodies,
and contestation
for
and social exclusiveness."
The constitutive
il induces
<truction
it acquires
concealing,
the
how in India these
from feminine
the confining,
existence
as well as the places and the time of the
the colonizer
texts or through
of empire,
regulating
the privilege
their integrity.
through the meanings
powerful tools for the display of identities
of symbolic
for the colonials
shows
served to mark and differentiate
by "patterns
details of everyday
day these could be worn, served to establish
the British colonizers.
shows how British co-
were maintained
how, "in this choreography
display of dress in all its forms carried
ings."3 The dictation
but also across national
Callaway
in the colonies
their power and
effects on Islamic styles and traditions,
exactly
the private
is a mechanism
As such, manipulating,
private on one's body through
I
(\,' ,/
'I,
I ,
..•.
II
II
,t
t
/I "
,I r
In other
by delineating
shifting,
clothing
hl'()lll\'" .III \'Ikclivc tool hy which the est,lhlished
lic arc challenged and unsettled.
Clothes
through
also serve to distinguish
the differentiation
vately. For example,
of clothing
bathrobes,
pajamas,
between
a bathing
is that the former is constitutive
the latter of a private
underwear,
space. The headscarf
clothing
public-pl'ivate
serves
spheres
as gendered,
classed,
clothing
interventions
into a political
and hierarchies
to bodies
tion, and tutelage
of power
through
and portray
which
turn the body
political
agency
There
of bodies functions
in the creation
to gen-
either of state
that seeks to challenge
interventions
identify
it as in need of protection,
and managerncru.
and re-
whereas
is more readily
implicate
both
and directly
i
/I '/
1'1
r
J\I rI I
1 fl
,.,'
l.v which
subjects
publi<.:-private
lI,ually justified
lhe nation
rowcr
(l
the target
n
II
I H
acquire
or its liberation
subject,
and dictate
"I)heres. It is through
',lilte acquires
1)1
to shape and contest
and oppressive
subject
with regard
to bodies,
of
circumstances.
legitimizes
its
construct
the
of the public and the private
and dictates
the public realm that the
its own norms and standards
This is how the new Turkish state in the early years of the
republic acquired
Identity
crucial tools
to the [ernale body are
and monitoring
agency
the
agency.
of the honor and well-being
the boundaries
regulating
political
naticnhood.
related
the intervening
to intervene
state power.
become
and authority
from degrading
sllch guardianship,
public visibility,
with political
of bodies
of protection
of
in the public
the public by marking
subject
Interventions
by a rhetoric
and authority
national
the power
distinctions.
defined
political
around
agency
in creating
and dictating
the norms of secularism
and acquired
agency
a new national
and a West-oriented
dernity. It is also how in the 19905 the lslamists legitimized
(I
mo-
their national-
to speak and act on behalf of the nation.
l iuring
and tbe (l'Caiion oj a
a new state which
«.cular nationalist
project
agent (c.g.,
bodies,
of interventions,
anr]
involved
Subject
National
against
and implemented.
.J11l1public debate
through
which
media through
nationalism,
this law involved
on the visibility
men's clothing,
of bodies increasingly
and to hall the Islamic veil, but the issue
;Jlld W,lS Iell up to local governments,
/,
I II
d
1/'
r
N
'\'1
d
j
discussed
some of which banned
111I,nll,.h I()\';d i'\'glildli()llS.H
III<'1,,1,,i'" . dill IIII: t l«: I(11111
d iIII '. Y (';Ji'Sthe
j
W<1S
,,1
,\,\'1
II
.1
I
Ii
to
in the
discussions
revolved
, I"lhing
I;!
this
with regard
and Westernism
attire. The state did not pass a similar law to regulate
t
new
past.
which
women's
<iv.lv
<1
The Hat Law of 1925 is only
the state intervened
secularism,
of
the Islamic/Ottoman
I'he body has been one of the most important
project has been conjured
eng<lged
the institutionalization
constituted
Even though
con-
NClP
the 19205 and 19305, the new Turkish state was heavily
III building
public sphere.
the in-
By lllaniplIl.lling
II r
l~eg,t!(/ti11.g Dress Unveiling
instituting
male and female
indirectly
i
to constitute
the clothing
hnd ics toward
Hence,
as the savior, the political
the male body is usually involved
(,' r nth
and manipulating
"Ill' of the instances
in the male body of the ruling elite. Such gendering
to bodies
of women's
private upon the body vests the intervening
kcgulating
and display
projects
to male bodies serve to masculinize
Finally, the power of clothing
the female
of the intervening
related
related
the formation
of political
the manipulation
emancipa-
struction
subject
is no
of bodies serve to impose upon
leadership
kind. While
subject
forces) gains po-
dress codes and regula-
of the nation in the female body involves the simultaneous
but the female
and
almost
status of sccu-
are institutionalized.
order. Such gendering
the stare) incarnated
realms
of the
carnation
interventions
the
domains.
by the increased
are created,
In turn, this gendering
by effective
and private
the headscarf
of gender,
power or or a new order of power relations
place the existing
uu crvenrions
through
the intervening
of other political
to the advancement
'.Ilhere arc achieved
1'( project
erate Zlnew system of power and hierarchy,
body with the nation
onto
and secularized
and subvert the privileged
on the clothing
identities.
constitut-
categories
was challenged
field upon which subjectivities
doubt that interventions
a public gaze
part in the constitution
categories
of women's bodies,
of the masculine
in relation
I~y assuming
of Islamic attire. Indeed,
related
of pri-
and the private realm as Islamic. On the
distinction
through
are styles of
In other words,
form, thereby
the public
a crucial
single-handedly
served to contest
larisrn in the public sphere.
tions always operate
that the
understendtng
identity
nationalized,
has played
public visibility
them gender
and lingerie are items
([slamie)
so as to constitute
racialized,
other hand, this secularist
is generated,
«k.ntitics
and new veiling
to map other
public realm as a secular domain
Third,
litical agency
upon the body, they also serve to interpellate
Second,
highlighted
places
to pri-
public space (i.e., a beach),
for which the body is displayed in its concealed
ing the space in which they appear as public.
In Turkey,
and private
in public spaces.
a different
the public visibility
as opposed
It can be argued
of a particular
while they serve to constitute
'"Illrolling
suit and a similar piece of underwear
that are to be worn specifically
vacy marked
public
space.
of the pub-
Ihe media, the state, or the leadership
worn publicly
that serve to mark private
main difference
clothing
between
of clothes
boundaries
around
women's
extenthe veil
d J' st.u c: 1IS('( I t h\' III('(Ii11111
H" ,/ \'
(){ the lcmalc body and women's public visibility as a strategic means through
which Tinkey's new secular project of modernization
ized and its new national
identity
would be institutional-
would be displayed
for global audiences.
1
several decrees
of women's
JS
There were several reasons why the female body became
interventions
different
toward the building
from other countries
ize the nation
femininity
and submission.
Within
both
because
is a powerful
the discursive
the world into the national
of its reproductive
context
in need of protection
who intervenes
nation
women's
serves to construct
with regard
acquiring
to bodies,
discursive
conditions,
effective
mode
women's
and control
means through
serving
to preserve
Hence,
by regulating
thereby
dictating
bodies
function
of these boundaries
as
of dif-
the state as the political
rescues
of agency
the female/
bodies
and power.
gain enhanced
of women's appearances
which
new nationalist
the invisibility
the norms and boundaries
public
projects
women's
Under
such
visibility
are employed
and masculinity
and controlling
the state is able to constitute
guardian of the nation.
or liberates
agent
and brings it under its own guardianship,
a masculine
where regulations
that divides
of the female body as the symbol of the nation
from adverse conditions,
thereby
openness,
of nationalism
self and its others,
the designation
capabili-
trope of vulnerability,
"symbolic border guards" toward the drawing
ference, and their protection by the state."
Second,
such a target for
First, Turkey is not
where the female body has come to symbol-
and its borders,
ties and because
of a new nation-state.
as an
are implemented,
of political
public
agency.
appearances
of the national
and
public sphere,
itself as the agent of modernization
and the
clothing
regulations
discipline
man were heavily
because
conditioned
European
by Orientalist
represented
by images of veiled women
what better
means could the new secularist
itself from the Ottoman
lic sphere
modernized
wearing
and women
clothing?
through
the founders
images
of women
women's
"emanciin the pub-
emancipated
(I (/,
i
J/
1/
gear helped
and occupational
example,
in the
1720s several
tempted
to impose restrictions
justified
the decision
had adopted
project,
I.
f
N.{ t
means
with regard
11''',j
to bodies
as an important
this is not a srrategy
I /!
I'
,/
spccil«:
st at c isslI('d
by noting
I ,-
of
measurements
ited lower-status
class differences,
homogeneity
brought
in
on Istanbul's
streets."!'
In
the state specified
fur. According
within
and social ranks, it was
laws were enacted
110t so much a switch
ruler lvIahmut II passed a
homogeneity,
as Quataert
mogenization
of appearance
,1I11ong categories),
st rated through
of difference
claims (because
within
but rather
the bodies
a category
the emergence
suggests
differences
as demon-
an increasing
and the initial concerns
the state.
with the construction
which included
and attire became
)('Ili llotl'S th,ll during
,·11\1",wlu: (Ollt('111I'L1t('(I'lillkcy
throllgh
of a ria-
I 11./
, /'
I
i',t./
(,I
cen-
concern
century
and public
"the pro-Western
the g;lZC of the r:lIrope<lIlS" were
I'
/,
a
with the
the idea of nation-
issues of central
the nineteenth
The
to create
involvement
to Nora ~eni, it was early in the nineteenth
IIIIV, wit h the onset of Westernization,
/,,'
so as to create
of nationalism
and the attempt
of civil servants
form of headgear
.ilivm , that clolhing
of
involve the ho-
representing
with the clothing
According
was
to a constitution
of civil servants
',l,lmbrd
[4
century
all regulations
( unccrn
"ic,l of nationalism
the fez.
the mid-nineteenth
from the creation
to
public of Aces. This change
all civil officials to wear the same headgear,
toward
to
served to create and maintain
about in 1829, when the Ottoman
seems to have occurred
that women
passed in 1727 prohib-
that clothing
and uniformity
the
to wear. In a similar at-
ermine
communities
century
women
Christians
a regulation
from wearing
religious
until the mid-nineteenth
for nothing'
imitating
and the overcoats
these earlier regulations
various
by the state that atOne of these decrees
were allowed
men and women
among
astray
of the headscarves
although
differences
society."? For
under control,
to the Muslim community
tempt to reestablish
of the specific
were passed
to lead the public
and head-
in Ottoman
that "some 'good
such transgressions
.11·1,,11(""
and
to members
in their clothing,
order to bring
helonging
Clothing
on women's clothing.
various innovations
I
l,t
decrees
effort
What
starting
that these
of social control
groups.
communities
the deliberate
promote
argues
"the laws were instruments
give status and a sense of identity
ethnic
HOl
Quataert
instruments
Rather,
communal
religious,
Quataert,
II Donald
by the state.
and religious)
IIIlIl,li subject
~eni notes that the Ottoman
I
and
from and triumph
of dress and attire quite effectively
state. Nora
( f
its difference
used interventions
of their modernization
to the new Turkish
harem walls, 10
in the public sphere proved to be an excellent
the regulation
component
of Islam
Turkish state find to distance
Indeed,
through which the new state displayed
agai nst iIs Ottoman -Islam ic predecessor.
Even though
behind
of the harem having a vivid presence
Western
visibility
of the Otto-
conceptualizations
than by projecting
pated" from the confines
perceptions
century.
the color and thickness
of the veil and of scarves,
used by both the state and its elites, as well as by the various
(occupational
precise
and regulate
were not simply
employed
negotiation,
W,15
and most important,
to control
and the length
early as the sixteenth
I,lw requiring
Third,
attempting
overcoats
I
I /I
.
/I
of
I
/l
I'
,/
r
adopting
and presenting
European
sories as "tools of civilization,"
tional garments,
Therefore,
clothing
in the nineteenth
and acces-
to the Islamic/Ottoman
has always been an important
of subjectivities,
century
it became
a new sense of nationhood
of the political
an important
What
instrument
used to-
means through
made
toward
from previous
elite under
of a new, modern
the leadership
involved
of Mustafa
in creating
nation-state
Kemal Ataturk
a brand-new
nation
governed
a new public sphere where the new national
could be constructed.
This revolutionary
from the Ottoman
on disjunctive
past, an inscription
change,
This revolutionary
be constituted
constituted
the obsolete,
with regard
create a new sense of nationhood
en's bodies
in general,
that recently
ernization
project
which
This major undertaking
among
the "discursive
the Islamic veil took a central
by the Ottoman
in the following
state. Ataturk
words:
to take
[7
contours
articulation
"barbarism,"
of the new Turkish
Yegenoglu
suggests
of the project
that
of nation-
of the veil."!8 In the 1920s,
the practice
of women
of veiling
III some places I have seen women who put a piece of cloth or a towel or
.. when a man passes by. What is the
meaning and sense of this behavior!
Gentlemen,
.ind liberation,
I'
t /11'
N,I/llllI,,1
Images that has destroyed
Instituted
the advance-
such a narrative
of subjugation
the role of the liberator
hJthing
nationhood.
Islamic
in their place secular
who
suits on the beach.
norms
norms
hence covered
hathing
and institutionali-
of publicness
and privacy
by the veil. Therefore,
[Sill. Therefore,
photographs,
images of women
cartoons,
and
has been the image of women
The bathing
suit ensures
the public exposure
the abolishment
in bathing
and illustrations
in
private under Islam and
no piece of clothing
suit could so fully symbolize
of the
One of the most potent
oj the parts of the female body that were deemed
other than the
of the authority
of secular-
suits were abundantly
during the formative
of
used in
years of the
[cpublic.
The image of women
sponsored
l urkcy's
beauty
radical
P,lth toward
wearing
pageants
break
liberation
similar
secular modernity.
in their bathing
of the body/nation
The visibility
suits on the beach,
of women
the appearance
p.Jrl[;]ml'lltarians,
1[1dthktics
activities.
m-, ol puhl«: visihility
1'[,·v[()[[slv un: ouunon
pa-
with a rhetoric
authority
of Islam.
The state was actively
places,
Photographs
pilots,
couples
on a
suits was justified
in public
were proliferating
1[[("[ll'''IV\;]rried
ways to embark
in the public sphere gained a new significance
of women
women
or in statesymbolized
This state-sponsored
from the oppressive
<lu[ing the early years of the new republic.
[[11-:
occasions,
from the Ottoman-Islamic
r.ulc of images of women
1)1
bathing
and on other
a West-oriented,
women
promot-
wearing
modern
clothes,
of women
lawyers,
women
in military
in publications
training,
sponsored
and women
by the govern-
in secularist
elite circles were demonstrating
hy showing
lip in puhlic places as "man and wile,"
pr.utic«,
org;][liz.inl' Ilambov.uu
new
dance receptions
W'·d[ [[[I: ,·I'·",d[ll 1[[" '1)(",[[1"".""(.,, d[l(1 "[[it,,, d[Td[ll:i[lJ~ ('v('ning gdtilnings
11",1,
I
,~... (I ,J
the
sign of the emanci-
the female body also served to reset the boundaries
"ation of a sense of secular, modern
11)[
I"
sub-
future. Hence,
public and the private, which in turn served the creation
this hilrh;lJ"()lIs
posture? It is an object of ridicule. It must he [·cllledicd .u (l[lte
a better
of the nation to achieve
By creating
the pro-
from which the national
toward
the new state itself acquired
Unveiling
.I
'11//)1"
it deserves.
and
would guide the nation toward civilization.
can the mothers and
daughters of a civilized nation adopt this strang« mariner,
(
and the liberation
'·[ll-:aged in modern
something like it over their faces
and guided
the
barbarism,
device allowed
of the female body came to be the ultimate
ment and progress
where it was used
and the oppression
himself condemned
This rhetorical
past as a catastrophe
to be liberated
pation of women
in the mod-
images, and particularly
place in official discourse,
as the symbol of backwardness,
emerged
the role of women
of official nationalism.
conditions.
jection of the immediate
unveiling
that the veil was projected
rule that had subjected
by the female body, to backwardness,
degrading
icct needed
techniques
Ottoman-Islamic
Islam over the female body and put in its place the authority
of wom-
years of the Turkish state. A new body of
examining
to discern "the fundamental
alism" by examining
con-
so as to
subject.
the Islamic veil, played a crucial role in the foundation
it is possible
things,
and appearance
in Turkey asserts that women's
state and the institution
self could
involved
other
and the Islamic veil in particular,
emerged
ways.
as the tradi-
the national
that the clothing
center stage during the founding
literature
from Ottoman
and a new national
It was under these conditions
an insistence
the Ottoman/Islamic
to bodies,
subject
such rhetorical
represented
uncivilized,
by a
a sharp break
rupture,
diversion
against
as new and modern.
interventions
involved
of a historical
on a revolutionary
incision
the backward,
change
The
was much
new state and forging
certed
which
the interventions
the 1920s and 1930s different
the building
It was through
as a mark of the oppressive
nation,
was that they were part of a more radical and revolutionary
more rigorously
tional,
tradi-
and with the advent of nationalism
was created
elite during
transformation
political
in contrast
garments,
which were seen as "signs of barbaritv"!»
ward the construction
interventions
styles of clothing,
I
,J
I
I,
I!I
,I
rJ ,)
II'r
.--.
.'~
(I
I
II
II 110' /
11.,,/
\
T
lions,
together
displaying
with
men and dressed
Mustafa
'modcrnitv.'P?
lhe image
of the "new woman"
personally
encouraging
pearances
together
.md official
in Western
Kemal
as a "symbol
women's
public
visibility
with his wife and adopted
was actively
nity, secularism,
the public
where
;::~"'I', .-,~,,;'",:<,~~
men's power
I )uring
the
19205 and
proliferation
and authority
the presence
of women
in the
feminization
the patriarchal
is measured
of
basis of state
by the control
they
and their bodies,
r~"·
1930s,
of the images
some
place and status
./
(lttoman
I
important
which
ideals
to women,
lacked
,'n's rights
11111suffrage
promoted
tion (Scrvet-i Fii""",
images symbolizing
Turkey", devotion
to \Vesterniza-
I 925).
back cover page,
.,tr.ltegic
The
and allowing
moves
words
including
by the new
which
endorsed
of 1926 gave
had eighteen
women
in several
of women
than
women
on these
as public
feminist
the presence
democratic
and
"16
Europe
societies."
Kemal
and worn-
the granting
in the parliament
to show
Ataturk.
in
of citizenship
~irin Tekeli,
of women
countries
developments,
citizens
modernism
scholar
was
parliarnentari-
other
the construction
of Turkish
of Mustafa
women's
of the late
of ideas
Federation,
civil code
women
on the part of the state
Ill' 111<'following
range
to vote." Drawing
IOllged to the world of Western
the
affairs, and in 1934 full suffrage
As a result, Turkey
to the Turkish
involving
movements
Islam, were consolidated
and marital
more cherished
promoted
in the public sphere,
measures
Women's
2~
that are the backbone
According
suits was one of the
of the state
not only
women's
a wide
and reformist
"It is the construction
.ivil rights)
all the beach in their bathing
legislative
reflected
even the right
(even
state
women
pluralistic
in 1937, at a time when
( ;iilc notes,
image of women
had
in inheritance
.Ins elected
hlrope
The
state in 1924 as the Turkish
he secularist
granted
the secularist
of Westernized
in society,
period,
('(Iual rights
most vigorously
ap-
by the new state as a mark of moder-
to strengthen
on women
<ccularisrn, nationalism,
I The
personal
at social occasions
Female Public Visibility and Political Agency
lurkish
Figure
and making
daughter
Such a state-sponsored
also served
hut also adopted
I
with the past" by
I,.
I':';;"::::=~
+
promoted
and civilization,
sphere
Me able to exercise
t,.
thereby
to promote
cerernonies.P
sphere
power,
clothing,
did much
of the break
In sum, in the early years of the republic
public
style
himself
of
were
that Turkey
be-
This point is attested
commenting
on the
:·'<,ll1till:~ 01 lull suffrLlge to women:
at coffee
riding
saloons,
clubs,
becoming
members
and so on." The
was that of "the woman
and similar gatherings
image
who appeared
organized
(
flli/"
fI.1
of prestigious
in Republican
by cultural
!
I,
golf and horseback-
of the "new woman"
centers
II"" .II'( i,i,,,, J,;"
of this period
ballroom
receptiolls
(I",{/:,.,,/,.,i) ;11111oI'.',II,i;\
\\'11'"''''
I
,,\lI'lt,d
nl nlh",
,11111
,';]1'11('''
".Ilin",.
v,-IInl
\-\lilliH'I
I
r
Nt/II,'II.,I
(, I ,,,
Il",t
1 .. ,/.,
Turkish
women a higher
I" the luturv.
1
[oulv I
II 1/
/,.
ill hi',IIIIV
r
/',J .,'
I
(,',
status
than that of the
it will he ncc('ss~ry
r
,I
hook v.
111,1
Ii ",I
ro se;Hch
f"r
Bv P;Hli('ip;lliIlJ~ ill
•.
,
gCJ1cr<l1elections,
Turkish women are now using the most important
rights. This right, which is denied to women in many civilized
\11:
late images
01' all
of women
presence.
cOLIntries,
The
displayed
Women's
in the public
People's
Party,
sphere
founded
\i
than with their actual
by autonomous
women's
II
is now fully available to Turkish woman. She will use that right effectively
and confidently."
This
and similar
among
tion,
statements
made
by Kemal
Ataturk
women,
organized
under
the Turkish
secularist
that its leader,
by Ataturk
here,
were
political
to have
had to be achieved
the "most
is that
the mark
the public
sphere)
"object
that
needed
to be remedied.t"
identity
instrument
as opposed
This
is why
for ...
to backward
Ottoman
up under
the secular state
of veiled
women
in the public
educated
women,
who were brought
status
in society
upon
the: absence
as doctors,
sphere.v It is mostly
associations
The rights
republic
undoubtedly
the public sphere.
rights
handed
secular
state
of women
against
and privilc:ges
granted
contributed
There
down
was more
(
III
I I,
J
/1
1/
of Modern
political
that
t /J r
,.
N
(II)
Ii
I
.-.
I II
/I
II
is predicated
I /I
around
Life and active-
in the early
presence
women
its ability
and
Islam and the: headscarf
beneAted
years
of the
of women
from
was granted
to women.P
and the number
cent
of the Creat
broader
in
these
National
political
authoritarian
nature
the 'new woman'
aborted
it should
be noted
as medicine,
though
visibility
fined and controlled
ence of secularist,
Although
occasionally
these
presence
interpreted
visibility
identities.
women
of women
and displaying
them
elite was able to achieve
selves
sphere:
as political
agents
formances.
As women's
was forged
and displayed
:IS
the political
\0
regulate
there:by
agent
establishing
and m n ni pu-
II1<'v wn(' ,i1(,ll('(,d
became
that
degree
such
the: secular
to dress
I ,t, I, I
II"
and when
,
I, r
their performance
N
(1/
them-
well-orchestrated
II
I)
---
national
identity
state constructed
women's
in the public
itself
bodies,
sphere,
and Westernized.
they did attempt
I'
JI II
I /III
II
Women's
II \'
::1
II
:i·
per-
did not have a say or agency
in the case: of the Turkish
!\
II
of
the state
to constitute
as secular, modern,
women,
of
images
to which
and undress
and visibility
the
the: male: secularist
sites from which
presence
identities,
J
The
of staging
is able
their
i1S
sphere
subjects
its own identity
of these
constructing
the intervening
The bearers of these identities,
construction
to the bearer
to the public,
that
and control
agency
and manage
bodies
II
has been
to deny
and monitor
capable
pres-
and intellectuals.
to women."
agency.
I
de-
agency
in the public
allowed
was largely
this tightly
in the public sphere
it was through
political
sphere
of political
operated
was able to forge these images
ill the public
of women
To the contrary,
such
Even
gave rise to a substantial
professionals
as the granting
citizenry
However,
in Turkey.
of the state,
nevertheless
visibility
Westernized
the enhanced
in the: public
aspirations
The
in elite professions,
high
As
to harness
movements."34
saliently
of women
....
of a uniform
of women
has been
by the modernizationist
ever).
was part of a
and its attempts
women's
the
4.5 per-
percentage
Kemalism
19905,
reached
and secularisation
state
that the percentage
the expanded
e:nabled
under
and reproduction
law, and academics,
until the
never
constituting
the highest
emancipation
for autonomous
in
years of the republic,
parliament
of the single-parry
successfully
movement
parliamentarians,
to the creation
the possibility
initial
women's
of nauon-butlding
project
to control
r
After these
Assembly,
Women's
in 1935, only a year after full
in the Turkish
notes, "Women's
Kandiyoti
dlt\OIHlI1l0US concerns,
II
was disbanded
of women
that the new
(l
in 1924 and had campaigned
reforms,
obvious
but it soon became
with
of
presence
was formed
by the state. The Turkish
did not have an autonomous
women
presence
the veil, in the public
to an expanded
concerne:d
who grew
who are organizing
to women
is no doubt
by the state,
that their
particularly
Turkey
be-
Turkish
this generation
or scholars
such as that called The: Promotion
ly protesting
and demonstrating
in Turkey today
il-
of women
by the increasing
teachers,
this ge:neration
or an
interventions
of women
up to believe
of the mark of Islam,
posture"
suffrage
which
of secularist
new public
It is especially
lawyers,
Ataturk
idcnriry.">'
fee:l so threatened
sphere.
words,
were to be
of modern
in Turke:y the first generation
today
In other
"the unveiling
the: construction
in
of Islam
bodies.
These
here
woman
subject
as a "barbarous
how in the early years of the republic
came a convenient
the veil).
of the veil from women's
of veiling
only
is crucial
of the mark
of the new national
to the practice
clear that
of the modern
wearing
be and
be exercised
What
as an erasure
woman
the removal
of ridicule"
lustrate
defined
made
support
authorization
level that it was in 1937 (eighteen
of the veil:
it could
could
(i.e., the image
and the constitution
referred
sphere,
to women
men."29
and Bekir established
is, the veil, was removed.
was being
through
himself
available
of the Muslim
modernization
achieved
that
alongside
and the wearing
in the public
Federa-
has been called
off the veil. It was explicitly
of secularism
the image
(i.e.,
a presence
right"
the mark of Islam,
Ataturk
of both
participation
by taking
important
woman
in 1923, was denied
Federation,
so widely
\\!omen's
of the veil and take her place
the words
link between
if women
if
Bckir, said, "In Turkey,
to rid herself
As illustrated
a direct
Latlfe
resonated
groups
to voice
in the
their
Federation,
;\
I:
I
I
1
1/1(
/,11
/
/\lIllie /30dy and Stale Power
'nJt
/.1/11':
(:odl'~ and regulations
of the most effective
state has undertaken
obvious
involving
and controversial
means through
abolished
by men and instituted
which
and Westernization
intervention
Law of 1925, which
civil servants.
public attire and dress have been some
its modernization
and effective
universal
with regard
the wearing
This law was recognized
to the body was the Hat
of religious
the hat as the required
the Turkish
plans. The most
headgear
and
as one of the crucial "revolutionary
steps" undertaken by the founder of the republic,
The justification of the Hat Law read as follows:
that constituted
an important
Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk,
into a civilized
What
nation
unimportant
in and of itself,
nation
the Hat
is of special value for Turkey, which wants to become a member of the
Islam, have been established."
vention
which has become a mark of difference between Turkey and other modern
is important
nations, and replace it with the hat that is the common headgear of all
modern civilized nations.'6
ing, since this illuminates
Thus
regulating
"modern
and controlling
that would
nations" and institute
constitution
of
it
and dress was employed
civilized"
between
nation.
and Westernism.
Clothing
and
was acknowl-
subject of a mark
In a speech
the Hat Law, himself wearing
this deep involvement
following words:
Turkey
in the quest toward the
upon the body of the national
civilization,
when he introduced
attire
marks of similarity
new "modern,
edged to be an inscription
of modernity,
public
erase marks of difference
Ataturk
made
a top hat, he justified
of the state in the clothing
of its citizens
with the
to women's
on clothing
There
with which
nipulate
involved
of the
such as
public visibility,
nor did it attempt
the clothing
involved
an elegant
tion of a new sense of statesmanship
that the people of the Turkish Republic, who claim to be civilized, must
contrast
show and prove that they are civilized, by their ideas and their mentality, by
,] revolutionary
to that of the Ottoman
t
"international"
also in outward aspect.
tion, modernity,
is neither national nor international.
... My friends, international
dress is
lricnd .
Araturk
Addressing
constituted
worthy of and appropriate for our nation, and we will wear it. floats or shoes
who has the will, power, and knowledge
I('SS
01'course, to complete these, a cover with a brim 011our heads .:l7
with legard
upuhlic:
In these statements,
national"
the endorsement
norm of civilization
( 1
II
/
I, i "IJ
of the Western
style as the "inter-
shows that civilization
I
I,
r
s\!
();')
If
I
I ,I
II
,/
I
II
I'
was Illldnsllllld
,I
I'
<ISd
,111.1
Hence,
1)('II'nl, dllli dl'spotic,
but also a declara-
/1 '/
r ,.
was projected
to constitute
r
as
as their "brother
N
(,'1
patriarch
to direct the nation toward
state, which
I
Ataturk,
the state as the modern
the Hat Law was an important
and therefore
in
such
the state the sign of civilizathe nation
ct
r
/1'
11,,1
prog-
intervention
between
as barbaric,
the
incorn-
the new stale as modern,
'(11111)('11'111,
,IIHllilwl<l1.
( /" II,
the
sense of governance
to the male hody that served to insert a distance
the Ottoman
and was
introducing
forms of governance.
upon
on our feet, trousers on our legs, shirts and tie, jacket and waistcoat-and,
and civilization.
the
of state power, was in civilian and
that marked
and progress.
,father,"
himself
state, which had failed to undertake
from traditional
clothing
identity,
and a modern
hc head of state and the embodiment
their family life and their way of living. In a word, the truly civilized people
of Turkey ... must prove in fact that they are civilized and advanced persons
Hence,
of the state itself.
the body of Ararurk
mance was not only a display of a new national
break
of
suit, a shirt, a tie, and a top hat. This perfor-
Centlemen, ... I tell you as your own brother, as your friend, as your father,
.. This grotesque mixture of styles [of our dress]
of new norms
of all men. Rather, it
by himself when he made his public statement
llat Law wearing
efforts. While
sought to alter and ma-
the establishment
to regulate
Hat Law was about the image and the authority
performed
the male and the
and state-building
only of state officials and civil servants.
The lirst intervention
but it
only men's cloth-
the Hat Law did not involve the public
of men. It did not target
the clothing
that this type of inter-
as such an instrument,
related to the female body invariably
women's
publicness,
boundaries
to its various others,
ways in which
in nation-
of
as the Hat Law arc often
is no doubt
the different
targeted
the bodies
a new sense of nation-
that the Hat Law involved
lcmale bodies were implicated
visibility
norms
related to women's bodies that
instrument"
bodies functioned
to acknowledge
interventions
it primarily
It was through
have been drawn and its relationship
family of modern nations. We propose to abolish the hat worn currently,
as a strategy
Law is that
of a type of intervention
as the "discursive
related
seen as
W<lS
the universal
that the state was instituting
such regulations
given as examples
of meeting
and civil servants.
subjects
hood. Nevertheless,
clothing
lifestyle.
about
bureaucrats,
male political
values and standards
of European-style
that was capable
is signiflcant
statesmen,
European
that the "people of Turkey" were being transformed
of a modern
has emerged
The issue of headgear, which is completely
it. The adoption
indicator
and standards
garb and the fez
for bureaucrats
norm rather than the specifically
/i."I\
'I'll<' 11.11 1.01\\,011,,,illv"lv('(lllH'
discussed
ill the illiroductioll,
bringing
all Islamic authority,
and direct control
ism involved
While
official
the public
st'clIl.lrislll
practice,
ill TUlley
of the public visibility
Islam was given a limited
under
sphere,
autonomous
Directorate
Islamic
discourses
were confused
"undercut
the authority
sought
of the authorized
to ensure
Islam in the public sphere
unveiled
personnel
words,
national
the female
to the wearing
"39
In other
was dressing
peculiarity
points
bodies were employed
at the different
in the state- and nation-building
the male body was employed
the state to institute
as an absolute
control
in the public sphere.
turbans
ways in which
secularism,
which
was understood
over the practice,
knowledge,
The authorization
of the wearing
by the officials of the Directorate
forbidden
to anyone
of Religious
else served to constitute
brought
I\. inn This particular
the 19205 and 19305, images of Westernized
instance
Turkish woman" were appearing
displaying
the dramatic
of this was the organization
C I () II, i lit}
I h ('
changes
I I.t!is here, resulting
of
, lothing,
and implemented
presentation
N"
Ii """
the patriarchal
by secularism,
to con-
authority
of Islam,
as demonstrated
layers of inscriptions,
by the
of Halts's body into a national
Affairs while it was
lite body
as a
of the beauty
of Islam in the public
queen
inscription
d.irds of modernity.
win it, enabled
t..ward
lit
and
1"'\;1"1
ill I 1)2() hv
/ II" ,/ r
I
,I
I j,
I II
suit, let alone
its rower
and authority
.1
Participation
understood
standards
of bodily
standards
through
the illsniplioll
I /.,
in the
the state to show how it had succeeded
j\j
d I •
1
70 ~
project.
was, on this occasion,
thme
,I
was able to com-
state to display
hourgcois
Tlti, illvolvl'd
I
Halis was
a bathing
allowed
which
dllt! .ihilu v to prilclice
WIlIIII'II\ h"tii,".
constituted
wearing
of its modernization
.rI,ilitv to mecl luropcan
taking place in Turkey,40 One
pageant
the new Turkish
modernity,
was the
upon Halls's body was that of norms and stanbeauty
the realization
.uhicving
newspaper
body, even before
l1otjolwl
The mere fact that a Turkish woman
nu cruat ional competition
were
inscription
body. By framing the beauty
of Islamic garb and
,·kcted.
Thc second
some done through
The first and most important
duty," the secularist
of the first beauty pagcaru
to the Western
(top Islamic authori-
of the beauty Queen attempted
in different
some verbally.
u.uisformation
of Islam
journals
Keriman
the hrst Turkish
Halis was presented
I\.ti~eant as a matter of "national
in European
candidate,
and became
1IIIposition of a bathing suit on her body.
There were multiple interventions
with regard to the body of Keriman
Again,
Turkish women
But, more irnpor-
that women who had been
of the last ~eybiilislaJil
1111111
which she had been liberated
not only in the local but also in the global public sphere. Images
of the "modern
magazines,
in Belgium
'.llllitC her past as one that was under
it
The First Beauty Queen The Nationalized, Secularized, mid Unveiled Body
During
pageants.
was
of bodily
for the new state to show that it had
Miss World.
IIlnlia as "the granddaughter
pl'le in an international
proliferating
standards
paid off, and the Turkish
as the winner
III.llIty queen to become
the state as the only authori-
ty over Islam and ensured that the only presence
sphere was the state-sanctioned
official version.
such beauty
opportunity
elite, who
that the new republic
bourgeois
over Islam in the country
In 1932 the promotion
1 I.llis, emerged
male and fernak
and visibility
control
secularist
woman
t,.,lhing suits and display their bodies to global audiences.
In other
processes.
through
as a national
to find the most beautiful
the European,
in
lf all citi-
"Ilt-d just over a decade before could emerge in the public sphere wearing
that sought
as the bearer of the mark of the authority
demonstrated
1.,,,1, this was a crucial
up certain male bodies with Islamic garb with the other. This
again
and take it upon themselves
for the global gaze evidence
of meeting
woman
cornpetitionz
lurkey will yield beneAcial results.":"
lhis undertaking
was a major step for Turkey's
'.'1' h ultimate
01
the female body with one hand,
said, "Who is the prettiest
to go to the international
we are organizing
the competition
"',Ihelics
It is interesting
and, on the other,
enough
,.lIlled to display
subject that, on the one hand,
body
of the state, CtmliJuriyd (Republic)
i929, the newspaper
,,,,In.d capable
words,
and visibility
of Islam ic garb and turbans.
while the state was unveiling
th('
officials and therehv
was that of the official version.
and de-Islamized
such an exemption
aru]
such "imposter,"
that the only presence
a new secular, modern
If'
The unaurhor
that the Hat Law was a part of the same set of interventions
to construct
III
newspaper
~~ivethis issue due concern
• II.
,1"11'.
not so much because
religious
semiofAcial
l.ul.iv, beautiful
for the staff of th('
Islam per se, but because
with government-appointed
this regulation
place
were suppressed
of religious garb was severely penalized.
were against
, '" . lebruary
of IsLIIiI
the Fez, but also outlawed
of Religious Affairs and the imams of mosques.
secular authorities
hI'
of sccul.u
controlled
of religious garb and the turban by men except
ized wearing
<I, •• ,"cularist,
the stl il I
and presence
and tightly
kept out. The Hat Law not only banned
wearing
estahlished
\V,]<;
and knowledge
of the secular state. This institutionalization
tight control
1\ ..
1II',1111111"I.dL·
..lli,," 01 "·Ud"l·i'lll.
_ .
I' II
aesthetics
as the
and the
the presentation
of
(llll" K('I'iln,ln I Ltlis's hody
,t
I
/1 " ,/
r
Ill<' '11"1I1111,,"."I~'.lli()1 01 't'llll,lI'i,lll,
1\ ..
.I" ",'cularist,
'l'cliidrisill
hv
. 'II , lcbruary
'Ill<' 11.11 I ,.I\\' .II,,, illv,,jv('d
discllssed
ill the ililrodlictioll,
bringing
ill! Islamic authority,
and direct control
ism involved
While
the public
ill TUI'key
of the public visibility
Islam was given a limited
sphere,
autonomous
Islamic
Directorate
discourses
were confused
"undercut
were against
the authority
sought
Islam in the public sphere
officials and therehv
personnel
"39
In other
was that of the official version,
unveiled
and de-Islamized
such an exemption
words,
national
the female
to the wearing
was dressing
peculiarity
again
points
bodies were employed
the state to institute
as an absolute
control
in the public sphere,
body
and, on the other,
brought
In other
the female body with one hand,
at the different
ways in which
in the state- and nation-building
it
to anyone
male and female
processes,
Again,
as the bearer of the mark of the authority
secularism,
which
was understood
over the practice,
knowledge,
The authorization
of Religious
else served to constitute
of
and implemented
and visihility
of the wearing
by the officials of the Directorate
forbidden
that sough I
subject that, on the one hand,
of Islam
enough
. II', I~ive this issue due concern
,11111',
the competition
',«lIcd
to display
for the global gaze evidence
of meeting
the European,
through
control
III 1932 the promotion
1"'.JlIty queen
to become
II' )";2 This particular
Miss World,
instance
presentation
C I () t I, i /I 1/
t h e
N
7()
II
Ii"
~
III/I
r
to the Western
(top Islamic authori-
the patriarchal
by secularism,
journals
authority
of Islam,
by the
""position of a bathing suit on her body,
There were multiple interventions
with regard to the body of Keriman
I ""is here, resulting
• lorhing,
in different
some verbally,
u.uisforrnation
layers of inscriptions,
some done through
The first and most important
of Halts's body into a national
of the beauty
.,kcted,
The second
will it, enabled
r..ward
and
to con-
as demonstrated
inscription
queen
inscription
beauty
pageant
10
I
suit, let alone
state to display
its power
and authority
allowed
which
project.
I
,I
I j,
I
",I
Participation
standards
I"
j\j
d I ,
I ~-
I'
understood
of bodily
through
the insniplioll
I
in the
the state to show how it had succeeded
was, on this occasion,
bourgeois
illvolv('d
was able to com-
a bathing
prilcticl' those standards
11'''"11'11\1)I"li,"', Thi,
Halis was
wearing
of its modernization
.iliilitv to IlllTt luropcan
constituted
upon Halls's body was that of norms and stan-
the new Turkish
I")\V('! ,Itld "hilily
newspaper
The mere fact that a Turkish woman
the realization
was the
body. By framing the beauty
Affairs while it was
in European
/I" ,I
Halis was presented
as alwliol1ill body, even before
taking place in Turkey40 011('
of the first beauty pageant ill 1()2() hy
Keriman
the first Turkish
of the beauty Queen attempted
.uuuc her past as one that was under
modernity,
of this was the organization
candidate,
and became
of the last ~eybiilislaJ1l
11'"11which she had been liberated
.l.irds of modernity,
changes
in Belgium
«I<'dia as "the granddaughter
competition
the dramatic
that women who had been
paid off, and the Turkish
as the winner
III .uhicving
Turkish woman" were appearing
for the new state to show that it had
II"illing suits and display their bodies to global audiences,
IIllnllilliollJI
displaying
But, more impor-
IIJ(' body
Turkish women
was
of bodily
, .rlnl just over a decade before could emerge in the public sphere wearing
were
of the "modern
magazines,
pageants,
over Islam in the country
not only in the local but also in the global public sphere, Images
the 1920s and 1930s, images of Westernized
standards
of Islamic garb and
The First Beauty Queel1 The NatioHalized, Secularized, mid Unveiled Body
During
elite, who
duty," the secularist
of Islam in the public
woman
that the new republic
such beauty
1,1111,
this was a crucial opportunity
'II' h ultimate
as a national
secularist
bourgeois
in
If all citi-
to find the most beautiful
III lurkey will yield beneficial results,"41
lhis undertaking
was a major step for Turkey's
1I,,1,'('d capable
woman
competition?
and take it upon themselves
we are organizing
I'('(e in an international
proliferating
said, "Who is the prettiest
to go to the international
1,.li~cant as a matter of "national
the state as the only authori-
ty over Islam and ensured that the only presence
sphere was the state-sanctioned
official version,
of the state, CtulliJuriyci (Republic)
1929, the newspaper
1'11\."Y,beautiful
I I.dis, emerged
up certain male bodies with Islamic garb with the other, This
the male body was employed
turbans
of
It is interesting
of Islamic garb and turbans,
while the state was unveiling
words,
and visibility
newspaper
.. ',Ihctics demonstrated
such "imposters"
that the only presence
a new secular, modern
lil('
The unauthoi
that the Hat Law was a part of the same set of interventions
to construct
alld
not so much because
religious
of the authorized
to ensure
place III
for the staff of t lu:
Islam per se, but because
with government-appointed
this regulation
01 Islalll
were suppressed
of religious garb was severely penalized,
I
of sccul.n
the fez, but also outlawed
of Religious Affairs and the imams of mosques,
secular authorities
the slril
controlled
of religious garb and the turban by men except
ized wearing
eSlahlished
under
and presence
and tightly
kept out, The Hat Law not only banned
wearing
W,1';
and knowledge
of the secular state, This institutionalization
tight control
official
practice,
semiofAcial
n
aesthetics
the presentation
(Jilto Kcriman
"I
/1 "
r
as the
and the
r
of
I lillis's h(Jdy
i
,
lit 1lllltiC!"I1ity,understood
as the appropriation
or European
standards
and
11()1'IlIS
as the universal.
Ihat
The third inscription
involved
public on the body, thereby
the authority
the redrawing
instituting
of Islam in shaping
state used the body as a material
lic and private
were drawn,
it to local and European
body was subjected
of the boundaries
the power of secularism
the national
public
sphere,
space on which boundaries
By unveiling
to new, secular
private
rule of secularism,
by imposing
between
pub-
that the
the bathing
public under the
suit, a secular under-
public and private
was inscribed
on
the body,
Displaying
Halts's body to European
means through
accordance
with secular modern
a bathing
the European
to control
significant
of the modernness
accepted
subject.
by the Orientalist
to be an Orientalizing
vigaze
the veil and the walls of the
of Halls's body in a bathing suit to European
opportunity
state had indeed
to show the European
liberated
the female/nation
of the harem and the veil and had inscribed
presentation
was that of establishing
conditions,
thereby
turning
writers.
Writing
women writers
on this issue in the
in Turkey, Cihan Aktas, noted,
now absent
had been confined
served
II lJ
I /,
f
N
,".1
II
/ I II It .I
This inscription
to constitute
to the patriarchal
of Islam, hut one that had been freed by secularism
I /) i
a bathing
queen of the world.":" According
had elected
I
/l
the
authoritv
It W;I, I hi, inv.ri pt ion
II
,J r
in a beauty
the "Muslim girl" to demonstrate
of the national
revealing
pageant
suit was elected
the victory
world over Islam. Aktas sees this secularist
secularization
body, but rather
hody sixty years after the pageant.
as the opening
Aktas rewrote
In Akta~'s account,
tile body of a "Muslim girl" was exposed,
violated
by the "Western-Christian"
m ai n tai ns that
Keriman
Halis's
one that was inherently
display
l-Jarnic
<cription
suit upon
of modernity,
(public,
body
this body
therefore
also used Keriman
on Halts's
not as a
was a site where
and
of the pageant
a national
Therefore,
body,
but
the imposition
is read not as its secularization
intervention
it to violation
and conquest
male) subject.
and
that exposed
the
by the "Western-
In this respect,
this Islamist in-
Halls's body as a site from which Turkey's true
as essentially
Muslim, and the secular
for the subjugation,
lonqllest of the female body of the nation.
In xum , the beauty pageant of 1932 was an outstanding
1II1Iitipk intl'l'Yentions
and
it to be conquered
was indeed
Muslim,
but as a secularist
body and subjected
the pageant
gaze. This account
and naturally
up of the
it to conquest
the pageant
allowing
jury
not as an act of
violation by the "Western-Christian"
other.
This evaluation
by Aktas was a Anal, post hoc inscription
but as a defeat.
in the
the beauty
of the Western
performance
Muslim body by the secular state, which had subjected
victory,
lslam ist
to Aktas, the "Western-Christian"
as the culprit responsible
of Islam as the trace of something
( I II
world wearing
for Islamist
"It is pilrticularly
to see that the first Muslim girl to participate
<t.uc constructed
on her national-
of
and demon-
1990s, one of the prolific
encounter
Islam was reinscribed
the strict control
the undoubted
and authority of secularism.
Many years later, this pageantry became a matter of scrutiny
,J
Halis as "the grand-
the
body,
<rrab!e control
Halts's body into a site of political
Keriman
Through
over women's bodies,
been under
could be reclaimed
By presenting
of modernity
and modernized
control
under
1l,1tional identity
had been erased by secularism.
past as that which
been brought
backward
of the last FyiJiilis/am,"
ized body as that which
secularized,
intervention
under the authori-
state as the agent
body to oppressive,
Islam and secularism.
the national
desolation
from such adverse conditions.
as once having
Islam, but now having
,>I the bathing
of Islam
of a modernizing
itself as having ultimate
which were represented
(hristian"
the constitution
the secular
the nation
the state presented
from
secular, modern,
instance
of Halls's niltionalized,
gaze
norms upon the body of the national subject.
as the culprit that had confined
nation's
Halis
body to
of the new Turkish
as closed off behind
The fourth inscription
daughter
of Keriman
it in
served to demonstrate
gaze, heavily conditioned
carne as an exceptional
that the new Turkish
between
audience
and Westernness
this European
that saw Turkish women
Western
suit
since this gaze was taken as the ultimate
harem. Hence, the presentation
the confines
body and to publicize
and open up the female/national
sion of the times, was unquestioningly
audiences
a bathing
public gaze. The display of the national body to the European
gaze was particularly
Furthermore,
wearing
norms, The appearance
suit before a European
the power of secularism
arbiter
audiences
which the new secular state demon-
its power to unveil the female/national
wearing
that had liberated
Western-Christiiln
was a highly effective
strated
that was an exemplary
framed the nation's past as an oppressive
Iy of Islam and constituted
of Islam, such as the
and neck, were now deemed
of the distinction
between
the
Parts of the female body
the authority
hair, legs, arms, shoulders,
Hence,
Here,
the state demonstrated
boundaries,
under
of the
to displace
the female body and presenting
public audiences,
that had been deemed
standing
111particular
with regard
h,ul hl'< ()Ill<' t1H' c-mhodimcut
instance
to the body of the beauty
()f the nation
II"\\, '\;11,· 11,('(111", 1\'111;11"
hodv t() insutut«
defeat, and
where
queen who
reveal the ways in which
the
its project
and
of nationalism
111,"J..IIIllv 1,11"1 illi<'IV"llli()II', illll'illdt(· th.rt till' ('olllr()lltdti()11 l)('twlTI1
( I"
r /' ,"
,I
/1,
r
1',I,,!
II'
. I ,,'
n ,II
r:
I'
.11'
1
lslamist and secularist
national
projects
the Female body, upon which
ferent discursive
new national
contours.
subject,
These
served to legitimize
have attempted
interventions
of
to instill dif-
have served to construct
and protection,
and to establish
or exposed
or contest
the transformative
project, and the intervening
public-
body parts. The fram-
body as in need of a protector
interventions
and liberator
has
and the larger mod-
subject has acquired
ating nationalist
implement
political agency
in the process.
the self as a political
the manipulation
not an exclusively
strategy
secularist
Islamist political
the public
of bodies
and the guardian
a similar sort of agency.
female body as the medium
ideology
by which
ism through
during
the unveiling
1990s instituted
their
It was one of the primary reasons for
the downfall
lollowing
of the coalition
the National
Islarnists as a sign of liberation
own true culture
nized around
of the Refah Party in 1998. Secularist
saw the Islamic headscarf
to promote
to
project,
and institutionalize
its
the Islarnists of the 1990s
a new national
body,
subject
the Islamist
the female
and the nation
state that denied
political
II,
identity,
c
N,/
il
to take a series of repressive
of the restrictions
on the headscarf
Islam
measures,
in schools
includ-
and public
has become a symbol of political Islam not only in Turkey,
the most powerful
hecoming
tropes of Islamic fundamentalism
a more potent
lhe mosque
represents
symbol
political
ideology
has become
media,
Although
the image of the veiled woman
with Islam as a potentially
that can mobilize
one of
in the Western
of Islam than the mosque."!
Islam as a religion,
is more easily associated
of political
mysterious:
is behind
II
-
II""
women
threatening
force, a
to take up arms in defense
it is present,
covers.
,I.
making it project
elite of the
threat
to world
peace?
It is the disruptive
it such a potent
symbol
of an ideology
proj-
from the oppresnation
its
in designating
Although
the
these
111".1•.•111·.1ill I:elwi
under both the national
«onccal
I Ill'
of a political
to the public
JI'C
t
l«: pllhlil
I.)
"'1"""
defined as private, whereas
There
of the veil that makes
to
are the only
and privacy
controversial
upon
is because
is to cover the hair and the neck,
under secular codes these body parts
is no such contrast
.uid till' private
t l u:
that is seen as a
gaze. As such, the veil is a
is particularly
III the Islamic dress code the headgear
which
power
with
but be-
and gives it such a vivid presence
of Islamic norms of publicness
hody. The reason the headscarf
,11.-1"'t'IIlCd puhlic.
ideology
the face and the hands, which
IHldy parts that can be visible
inscription
so loaded
down governments,
and the global gaze. The Islamic veil is meant
all body parts except
ve-ry visible
has become
that it not only brings
symbol
by the
it
of political
fear and threat.
item of clothing
an international
similarly
is hidden and
the veil allows for the mystification
How is it that a simple
meaning
is that it allows for
of action but not open, not accessible;
comes
to form and institution-
11"
capable
Hence,
of, say, the mosque,
image of Islam as that which
its secular-
I argue that the secularizing
I
of a particular
Islam, conveniently
and pro-
body,
the Turkish
agency
frames of reference
1/
the military,
as a symbol of the rising threat of political
hut all over the world. The image of the veiled woman
Ideological
state and its lslarnisr rivals of the 1990s were cquallv
( 1/1 11'/11
of women
the female body was promoted
of national
especially
Islam instead
as the banner of their political campaign.
alize their own versions
authorities,
the presentation
visibility
This new lslamist elite of the 1990s, orga-
forces used different
decree in 1997 and the cessation
symbol
of women
and identity.
led by the Islamist Refah Party
Council
the lslarnists of the 1990s likewise
itself as the sole au-
as a site from which their nationalist
the Refah Party, found
Islamic headscarf
opposing
Security
the public
by revelling
Westernizing
government
as in Iran. One of the benefits of using the veil as the
of the female
This reveiling
sion of the secular
and regulated
years the new state instituted
lslarnisrn
using the body and its clothing
ect was articulated.
as
project.
its founding
as part of the new veiling has been the
of a state ideology,
body to construct
mote their own rnoderriization
images
themselves
Similar to the secular state that used the
and modernization
also used the female
Whereas
constituting
so as to constitute
to regulate
is
the exact same
forging and manipulating
thereby
of the nation,
and attempted
nationalist
employed
agents. Just as the secular state intervened
appearance
intervened
acquire
in the public sphere,
to
ter of public debate in the mid-1980s.
The headscarf
identi-
images in the public sphere
Islamists
in the 1990s, equally rigorously
of Muslim women
thority
strategy.
similar techniques
offices.
agent by forging and presenting
of women's
that employed
in Turkey since it first became a mat-
and urged the government
Islamic Delineations of the Body Unveiling and New Veiling
ties through
projects
central focus of political controversies
ing tightening
Constructing
modernity
their policies.
The use of the Islamic headscarf
a
by the female body, that is portrayed
as defined by covered
ing of the female/national
ernization
has taken place on the ground
parties
as represented
as in need of liberation
private distinctions
both
lor any other
between
part
or
the definitions
of
the hody. lor lslanusts,
1.,111'.uul till' lIeck tll the puhli« g<l'/T is to revt'al a woman's
I
/"/
I"
II
"
II ••
~
N'II!
,
, .-.
it
"
III
/1",11,
private
P<ll"ts,which arc Sllppo,nl
to her husband
t() hc rcvcakx] only to other women
in the privacy of her home, Under
values of Islam, a woman's
father or her husband,
man's authority
private
and honor.
Hence,
a woman's
ing the honor of her father or her husband,
over her body.
allows women
the new veiling
to enter the secular
bodies the Islamic public-private
justified
by pious women
For example,
paper Milli
Hence,
public sphere
writer
tool that
on their
The new veiling is regularly
in the conservative
protects
sometimes
an important
in women's
writers and journalists
stance persistently
should be looking
among
declare
see themselves
male gaze in public.
as having
to wage a struggle
in the public
sphere,
women,
evoked
by those who take up the
to avoid subjecting
oneself
to till'
in public,
I, i
II
1/
I
h
t'
N
':(!
II
lip
II
Ii
operates
I I! I' ,I r
()Il
ill<'
ligid ,]\
;1
male subject.
interpel-
The new veiling serves to
the body as that which is inherently
male desire.
,I
is defined
the female body from the male gaze, and in doing so, it also re-
constitutes
In this respect,
lid naturalizing
and naturally
an object of
the new veiling has the effect of reproducing
the power and authority
of the veil ensures
.irc absolutely
subordinated
of the male public gaze. Hence,
that the norms of publicness
and privacy
to the power of the male gaze, the authority
.ind privilege of which are granted and justified by Islam.
This argument against the new veiling is often raised by secularist
uisrs in justifying
it should
their demands
be acknowledged
that the headscarf
that this argument
ht.:adscarf, but for any type of clothing
lhe sexuality
.xample.
be banned.
would
that attempts
refuse to wear makeup,
the appearance
clothes,
have both been products
tight
of women.
.ind authority
capacity
These
of the attempt
were the leftist
to conceal
of the male gaze, which,
similar
attempts
deal with the power and privilege
is a strategy
drawing
an Islamic
upon
<ubnutting
the sexuality
to conceal
,IIHI power
()f
it clllerges
l"iv;I<Y, tlll'rl'hy
instead
of the fe-
have tried to
of a secularist
in singling
body
breaks
reveiling
Islamic norms,
thereby
unsettling
I /.
t
",j
oj
"'(IILlI'islll,
I /"
of
the authority
a disruptive
force
norms
of
secular norms that define and con-
',rrllli<" tiH' pul i!ic. Whell the Isblnic hcadscar!
,II<' (1<-1111<'<1
.uou n d t l«: IWIIII
several
it in the secular public
spaces with its own Islamic
established
as
in that they
the authority
disrupting
This is how the veil becomes
public
because
the same dilemma
the female
one.
out the headscarf
of the male gaze in public,
also present
in secular
, In
the sexuality
of the male gaze in the public sphere.
the norms of publicness,
secularism
has the natu-
by which women
is not justified
strategies
serves to reinsert
of the fe-
and reaffirm the [lower
it has been assumed,
frame of reference
criticism
create what they oppose.
Therefore,
while unveiling
,phcre
style of the
similar to that of the leftist style of the 1970s,
to the dominance
,ecularist-feminist
that
female bodies as sexual and desirable.
male body are some of the many strategies
The headscarf
or anything
from the Islamic veiling in that they
to define and constitute
and other
or hide
of the 1970s for
clothes,
male body, so they have both served to reproduce
1;)1
to conceal
This is why tight ponytails,
and no makeup
1970s. This style was not so different
fcrni-
However,
holds true not only for the
of the female body. Some leftist-feminists
would "sexualize"
whcn
that the public sphere
her hody from the probi rig, insul ti ng, offensiv(,
I
lates the public as an exclusively
«onceal
male. Since publicness
is visible to the male gaze, the very act of veiling
1,1;)11I in dictating
of the male gaze and that to appear
(l
on
in the public sphere.
as a means
hv that which
Sccularist-feminist
and the
view of Muslim
male gaze. The Islamic code of dress, therefore,
( I
of male
this patriarchal/traditional
This view takes for granted
needs to protect
which
a majority
place is in the home, where she
presence
are frequently
is under the domination
traditionalism,
Indeed,
male-dominant
which also denies them presence
veiling
men, so it is
the secular stare, which is trying to either
the traditionalist
new veiling, justify
are those who arc
and being a good wife to her husband.!?
fronts: one against
views, which
against
Islamisls voicing
their veils or deny them
against
to Islam.
who claim that the headsear/
homes.v'
that a woman's
after children
to take up
according
of the new veiling
struggle
to their
[slamist feminists
two different
private
to have an active public life alongside
women
the cover-
only to her hus-
for pious women
to as "lslamist feminists,"
weapon
to confine
like a shield
or become active in politics alongside
advocates
<umpt io n that the public is, by default,
loose and shabby
body parts that are deemed
referred
lslarnisr news-
its wearer
and belongs
makes it possible
such as law or medicine
allows Muslim women
women
of lslarn
by maintaining
by all those eyes. It is only after [wearing
In fact, the most ardent
These
privacy, and also threaten-
who claim that they feel more secure and less
the new veiling
men by covering
other
of the veil,
is seen as an empowering
Gnzcle notes, "The covering
professions
remove
of ,I
j
rhc wearing
ing] that a woman acquires her true identity
band who rightfully deserves her."45
Hence,
the removal
as well as the authority
distinctions.
a woman
from being enslaved
seeks
measure
by men when they go out on the street (i.e., into the "public"
threatened
sphere).
only by her
is the ultimate
by demanding
the secular state is seen as violating
For the wearers
the heavily patriarchal
parts can be safeguarded
and their protection
()I
f\!"
I
appears in public spaces that
<uch
I ,I II
"I
,t<,
/I
the univcrvi
II ,/
r
t v.
puhli«
()Ilicc~,
the p;lrli"rrlcrrt, it I()In:,
01'
distinction,
therehy
displacing
1,I;lIl1ic {I;lIlie upon the public-private
"11
the secular one, In
of the Islamic head scarf lies in its power
boundaries for the public and private,
of secularism.
SUIll,
the unsettling
to set its own deAnitions
thereby
undermining
effect
of and
the authority
meant headscarf,
.,J,,()
Ivpe of headscarf
but it was commonly
seen in the Parisian
lit', must have hoped,
Ihis rhetorical
political
.rll
strategy
meanings
Starting
in the mid-1980s,
between
the Islamic headscarf
came to be the main site of
Islamism and secularism
in Turkey. Since the issue
took on a confrontational
character
in 1987, it remained
matters of public debate and anxiety and was presented
indicators
of the "Islamic threat"
against
political
Council
intervention.
the February
lhe increasing
numbers
on university
1997 National
Security
I'ycssive responses
the Refah Party was being shut down by the Constitutional
Court in janu-
religious
orientation
the headscarf
to a top-priority
The Islamic hcadscarf
went from being a symbol
national
is distinguished
security
issue.
way in which the scarf is tied LInder the chin so as to conceal
Hadith,
This is justified
and Sunni traditions.
also emerged
The picture
in Egypt, which, as described
in the early 1980s and is specifically
in 1984, when the Higher
Education
Previous
regime
were "allowed
wearing
legislation
religious
whose numbers
student
leeway
body
(tiirban),
in public
was causing
total
at the time,
for these students,
to take off any garments.
(HEC)
which
is modern
Seeing
for students
were not higher
the HEC
found
wearing
than 5 percent
it necessary
that they could evade the political
the authorities
connotations
by calling it a turban and deAning it as "modern
(' I" / I, ,./1'1
/1, I'
N" / ,."
iH
."
/I
"I
Be Worn for Religious
Purposes"
the
having
at the HEC thought
clothing."
I'
TIlt' worr! liirl'I//I
J
"~I"'")
, ()[I1<1
I
hi'
1.11111,11
worn,
v I'if,/),
I
/
It
,
[,
t
""
I /'
I
1'/
'II
her neck, and
The next day, a front-page
of the
of the Islamic bcadscarf
II" ,I
clothing."
tied behind
to provide
so that they could go to class without
Apparently
that
was not tied under the chin,
and
and universities';'
premises
the article notes that as long as the headscarf
clothing."50
includ-
the
turban could be worn.
of the military
that students
the
1987, the lead story
with an illustration
[univer-
types of clothing,
major problems
how the permissible
shows a woman with a hcadscarf
titled "The Turban Cannot
especially
to rid the word
so as to reinforce
On 7 January
for the Turban,"
"modern
ad-
asking these
to define the terms of public discourse,
of the headscarf.
It could be considered
now
and ag-
university
media,
every effort
issued a decree stat-
under the auspices
to wear certain
that this stipulation
headscarf,
Council
issued a dress code dictating
ing beards and headscarves,
urban.t?
to enter classes and walk around
the turban
were forbidden
by Arlene
first became a matter of public debate
had been prepared
of 1980, which
civil servants
to the Koran,
the meaning
was "A Formula
circles including
it had acquired,
including
intolerant
who were personally
The secularist
connotations
and power of secularism
"I Cllllllnlriyet
the Islamic headscarf,
were making
.iuthority
',howed exactly
headscarf
sityJ premises
secularist
This type of Islamic attire is almost identical to
In Turkey, the religious
ing that students
by reference
to leave their classrooms.f
radically
de-
of the word tiil,baM.
were attracting
secularist
',llIdents
the
the new veiling that is widespread
Macleod,
not only the
and worn with loose-Rtting
wearing
professors,
Crmlbllriyct,
of the state.
had failed rnisera-
were now using the word ti.irbaH
campuses
from various
less threaten-
discourse
strategy
establish
the result was not the anticipated
of students
and individual
Ilirhali of the Islamic
as a part of the new veiling by the
hair but also the neck, falling over the shoulders,
long dresses or overcoats.
of
ministrations
it appear
but rather an Islamization
, .illed a turban,
stated as to why
a decade,
of the headscart,
l-Jnmization
making
secularist
media
III refer to the Islamic headscarf,
measures
the top reasons
Jry 199H.4H Within
It was also among
as one of the main
clothing,"
the secularist
the authori-
with lslarnisrn,
to deny and erase any and
that this rhetorical
of various
in the justifications
Islam, including
one of the top
1,ly. Even though
which,
would bear, and instead
in the overbearing
By 1987, it was obvious
confrontation
shows,
was mainly an attempt
that the headscarf
IIlg and even tolerable
National Security
10
fashion
would be the least easily associated
II as a piece of secular "modern
The Islamic Headscarf From Pubilc Visibility
used to refer to the fashionable
of
,
t
._.
II
It
"f
H
t1
,/
r
asserted:
piece
;\, I
(mlllll: t{J I.I,hi<l11 dc<;iglll'l',
po mt out Ihal klllaic
newspapers
the tllr",lIl i-, hl'ill!, Illi,col1lcivcd.
university
the turban
arc not wearing
they add that the turban
sludents
cannot
whose
completely.
of the turban
.. Usually
turban,
or hanging
religious
purpose
In a similar
turban
visible,
tempted
the hair is visible,
sometimes
a university
by providing
must
be pulled
at the back,
interventions
to refraille
the
\\llb
it is visible;
the modern
description
if it is not
2) some
secularist
and depoliticize
offiCials
the Islamic
lInmic
at-
Figure 3. "The Turban
turban
itself as undoubtedly
the headscarf
and it came to symbolize
llie new decree
stated
C {"
I"
in 9
I" ('
=
N"
I
HO
=
I "
"
"I
II" d )'
showed
the ways
that
on campuses
body
contin-
in accordance
Whether
during
January
discourse
that
students
and that
for university
WClS
a turban,
called
worn
by female
endorsement
of the
"mod-
should
most university
administrations
on university
of "modern
attire
about what
universities
The students
1\ prominent
of yic1ding
and deep-seated
of the
anxiety
and frustration
for all
access
to classes
classes
with
were being
resistance
they
forbidden
took
off their
demon-
secularist
circles
for the removal
of the secularist
"Go
and various
However,
in the secularist
hostility
he answered,
clothing."57
unless
to their demands
because
lhsan DogramaCl,
meant,
is modern
campaigns,
writing
its
to ban
the country, students
responded
after this
reached
policies
clothing"
and attend
and petition
columnist
dispute
the ambiguity
you see there
across
premises
at
clothing"
It was right
the head 01 the HFC,
"modern
whatever
clothing"
"modern
were adopting
who were denied
When
replaced
onentations.'?"
campuses,
was creating
for students
questionable
had no intention
resolute
clothing"
that annulled
"modern
of what
to decide.
of the headscarf
university
wear
1987, that the headscarf-turban
the wearing
enter
decree
had actually
ideological
interpretation
to
had failed, in December
certain
administrations
at appropriation
that the attempt
another
"the turban
peak. While
<tratio ns. protests,
987).
hard but failed to
Realizing
passed
he headscarf
hcadscarves.
J
Council
I
In most
8 january
Islamic.
one on the grounds
to
Be Worn for Religious Purposes"
would
and not as the fashionable
into secularist
Education
.ind look at Europe,
Cannot
the female
and privacy,
secularist
headscart
turban tied behind the neck.
the headscarf resisted secularist
attempts
was questioned
could be tied (Cwnhll/'iyet,
hair and necks
he previous
(Ii their
YUtu bu denl! ortaya fllcaran tilrban lddlals blr alcstsuard".
YakWJ! '" zordur, 90le
muntacarn YUt harlan Isler. Turban Dolu k(Jlcenlldlr. Amri Avrupc "!,.Ivatlerc« ytldan btri
beltt baJll blr moda aksesuan olarat: leuluulIlmaletad". lpek, lead/fe, fan. turbanlar,
drapelult usta blr Itlel/d. blJ1l1. sanlarak I~pedt )0'<1 da yanda blr /m.',!11 )0'<1 da diJlilmlt
tutturulur, Turban ylJUJ fOtu ht yalmtca blr bordur olamk revrtlN, Tepe aftkllr, SllfUu
goriJniir, lIaltn turbarun alttndan JQfUu btrakthr, 'Balen sactar tilrbrmn iistund« bukteler
halinde ::peYf: lop/an IT, Tilrbamn din! amact,yoktur. SIIe, ama ldd,
blr moda aksesuandir,
a permissible
their
parties, particularly
kulilllllillmayacalmt
b.IITllyorlaT, &q6rlilriJ
SOfia" lamamryla
aTlup rtnenln a/linda
balillnmakla
ya da
f'lI1aft arumsaur taruia
and'rtnede
tutturulmokrodrr,
Oysa
tlirbanm amact yuzfJ
saklamak dtlll,
tamamtyla ortaya
frkarmakrrr. Aslmda
tried
as an explicit
dcAnition
ortanmeterd«
circles
and privacy.
t
decree,
kavram yaniz11111
j'llprUyor. UlJ1UUl/ar'
galtlt/~rdt
fotolrtif!an
fllean untverstm!
knlann turban d~l/l
"stkmabas"
baS6rtu
ta/(lIklaTlm, turbanm
lse dlnl amaflt
of publicness
of publicness
the Higher
I <)~6
Incant
'~~l:\
succeeded,
and the Islamic
covering
under
the Islamic
and the private
to cover
,Ippropriate
Magalln Servisl :-:
Modaclillrag6re
~~
secularist
private
what
was increasingly
Therefore,
,tll times
~
interventions
of the public
of secularism,
spaces
exactly
~arlaf.55 or veil, the headscarf
norms
Turban, dini amacla taktlmaz.
tIJrbDJl oiaYlllda
notions
that are deemed
doing
'1/1" and secularized
by revealing
NE NEDtR?
these
However,
in public
I,I' establishing
and the media
headscarf
.iudents
hair
3) the ear lobes must be visible""
illustrate,
maintained.
Islamic
d:llI11ha?,
it from
the boundaries
n the authority
.u.rintai
11<'.1to appear
does nor have a
keeping
to do. Had
to dictate
been
l..rvc
the hair and the neck,
thereby
is supposed
"Illwrity
wear."
in the front;
namely
lLun ic codes,
",.ding
to reveal it
a prescriptive
back so that
and
the chin.
dean tried to differentiate
headscarf
I",dv parts,
in
The head-
let loose under
piece of fashion
"1) Part of the hair must be visible
must be visible
As these
and is tied under
down in curls from above it. The turban
attempt,
the turban
purposes.
is nor to hide the face but rather
It is a chic, but a daring
from the religious
of the turban:
arc ilppcilring
but the "s,bllc,I,,,!" headscarf,
be worn for religious
scarf is used to cover up the hair completely,
Yet the purpose
pictures
hq)L'I'ts
of the ban.
CWlIlntriyel
reflected
the
discourse
regarding
the
hC'<ldscarf:
I! Ihese y""llg
,11«1 w.u
t
girls l11"st cover their heads then they can quietly
1<11" hil',IlI III"h;ll1d
r
1"
f /""
like tl1<'Ill"'lve,,!
rI
r '"
J'J
HI
.r
r,
IJ
II
stay home
111Ih;\t c;t,,· IHI one wo"ld
oil
/!
II ,/
f
have anything
to say against
or any other
does
the society
I want to become
there
them.
In her home
part of her as tightly
she can cover
as she wants.
What
girls who say, "J WCI1lt 10 iJave
care! But those
doctor, a lawyel~ an engineer, n chemist,
Cl
is only one path we can show
f
,
her head,
do we care, what
them and that
is the path of modern
"11
civilizarion.t"
These
words
who
reflect
firmly
private.
In other
the thoughts
believed
What
that
of many
Islam
should
was at stake here
words,
the public
perceived
as a potential
columnist,
secularism.
constitutive
Within
visibility
be confined
loss of modern
discourse,
to the realm
sphere,
system.
which
professions.
of the students
as a direct
A columnist
in defense
threat
wrote
of
ro the state
of the republican
state
the "turban-ban"
[Islamic
symbol
against
Atarurk
of the pro-shariat
reforms
established."59
were frequently
Law]."6ll Another
Ataturk's
referred
Student
to as "proponents
movement
and of anti secularism
hostility
"the turban
and coercion
nevertheless
refused
to leave
their
They
to explicitly
bear their
Islamic
identity
engineers,
or teachers.
wearing
their headscarves,
or were
asked
tive, disciplinary,
These
from the students.
and protests
Contrary
Koranic
turned
to school
away at the gate
University
received
disciplinary
The use of other
measures
against
triggered
a wider and more resolute
1987 and 1989, the number
boycotts,
to secularist
expectations,
or to requirements
to wear the headscarf,
values,
namely
freedom
ences
to liberal
democracy
III
I
/I
'I
1/,
/
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lifestyle
liberal
evoked
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i
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011
is still
the headscarf,
which
This
against
until
called
is placed
the National
and demo-
left the secularist
such articulations,
and beyond
democratic
interventions
university
regulations,
Security
regarding
administrations
with headscarves
to pursue
The public
campaigns,
Council
for a ban on the headscarf
lhis resolution
democratic
authoritarianism.
some
changing
is
of rehgion.v'
in more
for the subsequent
students
image,
of liberalism
above
it,
in terms of the
Using
has indeed
has resulted
of secularism
demonstrations,
c.ontinued
to a discourse
of the headscarf
set the tone
light regulations
ongoing
of a pre-modern
is the abuse of freedom
the appeal
and encouraged
accompanies
but a tool of seg-
and the Republic.
a form of secularist
decision
that
and this is unacceptable
reformism
on the defensive.
ihc headscarf,
of clothing
is the display
secularism
suggest,
the principle
This
which
by the wearers
values, suggesting
decree
debate
and
and protests
in February
for all students
1997,
and civil servants,
by the government.
was later fully endorsed
The Hcadscarf as the
Within
to
in defense
Their
less than
momentum
referindi
BaHner
two decades,
WO[l the highest
percentage
tion of various
.uul compelled
of votes
il
1'. '1'1[1('
""vi",,s
( 1"
r
so much
discursive
of the most
in Turkey,
effec-
hut also became
of the Refah
in the
circles
Party,
1995 elections;
which
had
provoked
the
and later the army to take action;
of the constitution.
research
.u l 1()(',lS(', ()ll '"Hlcr<;LlIlding
(l"tllIllI:,
movements
secularist
the negotiation
gained
the focus of some
for the shutdown
\\(!lril(' llH)sl scholarly
',I
the headscarf
and protest
reasons
muhilizn
of Islanlis11l
that it not only became
Olle of the main
democratic
did not 1H'('('s';trilv
II
words
live demonstrations
under-
did not resort
of a pious Muslim
and individual
H".)
across
response
students
but rather
and individual
I, i
ensued
strikes.w
these
of conscience
restric-
of demonstrations
headscarves,
and hunger
of their choice
(
the students
which
students
measures
campaigns,
lawyers,
coming
and legal
Between
references
and become
1987, fifty-eight
with headscarves.
grew. Refusi ng to take off their
took petition
at home,
by the Consti-
Court,
restrictions
in
all rcstrictions
times
is not an exemption
widespread,
to challenge
.iuthoriries
the
circles,
becoming
principles
where
in our day."?'
headscarves
being
In May
at Ankara
to school
has become
by secularist
insistently
and Were either
department
for going
the country.
were
to leave the classrooms,
of the theology
suspensions
They
protesting
of the Shariat
wrote,
the students
doctors,
groups
columnist
Facing such uncompromising
wanted
and the principles
situation,
of secularism,
rati« rights
style
appearance,
principles
1\, these
that, "the headI
is in fact a rehellion
This
increasingly
and
both
of the Constitutional
and the particular
lacks a modern
regation.
was, for the
an
in 1989 (and again
gave in and removed
and is the basis of the ongoing
headscarf
which
was
did indicate
norm in politics
was annulled
decision
they
of protests,
Council
but this decision
The
however,
as follows:
The
civilization."
the headscarf
the modern
perceived
of the
[('dd
number
Education
Court.
" live today
secularists,
was "modern
civilization,
the activism
Constitutional
unyielding
of Islam through
was increasingly
and the secular
other
for secularists
of the public
secularist
their headscarves
scarf battle
clothing,
Irrlional
values;
as the acceptable
of the growing
1) the Higher
I'l')
to liberal
of these values
As a result
state official or n tmcim; "
C/
devotion
, rrdorsement
education,
{/II
a genuine
, ,lie
t h.u
/1 III,J
and media
attention
why women
wear
tire political
I j,j
/'·1,1
HI
I1II
-
regarding
the head-
this particular
cifn:h of the hcadscarl
JI
,,1
I!
II,/)'
piece
of
go far
'J
beyond
the specific intentions
nographic
information
of the wearers. This study does not use eth-
on women
taking up the new veiling and does not
seek to make a claim about what such veiling means for the wearers.
though
this may come across as a further
wearers,
it can be even more problematic
the reasons for wearing
veiled women.
There
Giving
voice to and thereby
will inevitably
of the veil. Instead,
silence
who are wearing
about
group of
why the veil is worn
privileging
one or two
the other, less potent
meanings.
to provide any "original" voices of
the analysis builds on the assumption
a lot more can be understood
fects if the headscarf
Even
of the
to make generalizations
as many reasons
That is why this study does not attempt
the wearers
of the voices
the veil based on the views of a particular
are probably
as there are wearers.
of these meanings
silencing
about
the headscarf
that
and its constitutive
ef-
itself is made the object of study, and not the women
it. The methodology
I pursue here focuses on tracing
the
effects of the headscarf as it appears in public displays and negotiations,
rather then uncovering the reasons why women wear it.
It seems that the initial appearance
public
spaces
rather
than one that was orchestrated
project.
in the mid-1980s
Regardless
of whether
piety or was adopted
by Islamists
and presence
of the headscarf
ideal, the head-
to Islam in the secular
in a particular
that came to be recognized
as the mark of an Islamist ideology,
pearance
but on the university
space of modernity
sy. In accordance
intolerable
and secularism-made
authorities
of secularism.
an autonomous
interpretation
However,
tonomous
Party emerged
visibility
undermined
intervention
reached
I, ,
It
in the public sphere.
program
item on its agenda.
1/
r
{,
I
did not remain this auSoon aftel-
its peak in the late 1980s, the Rebh
seen at rallies
I
of secularism
the headscarf
Islamism,
thereby
battlefield
and public
N
d
I
I II
II
d
I
that designated
thl'
MeTl1hLTs ()f the ReLdl
l11cctilll:s d,·, 1.111111:
111<'
ill'
,f
it the symbol
to call "all Muslims"
columnist,
HI
.-
as a battle
the headscarf
their own battle
the Refah Party hijacked
declared
with headscarves
the headscarf
to rally behind
between
be fought.
and
marking
the
In other
from the women
ideology.
which,
according
around
was considered
The reason that this idea was later dropped
too feminine."
It is telling
with which
political
the political
agency
Those
this new framing
Hence,
circles,
alignments
around
ideology
which
was elevated
to the
was created
the secularist-Islamist
to designate
accepted
by the Refah Party and
symbol
of political
that regrouped
divide, thereby
Islam.
all political
designating
it as
The faint voices of veiled women
that their headscarves
were not an expression
and that some were in fact against
jectives were totally subsumed
ready
unhesitatingly
controversy
in Turkey
The
and unmarked.
as the undeniable
paradigm
the main axis of politics
were declaring
in the
seen as a mark of femininity
of Islamisrn,
of the headscarf
the headscarf
a new political
was because,
"it made the party look
who were more than
as a sign of the threat
acknowledged
official party
elite of the party did not want to identify
had to remain masculine
in secularist
the headscarf
that the headscarf,
flag," was nevertheless
of Refah Party
as a possible
words of the Fazilet Party's leader, Recai Kutan,
status of the "national
to a
the new political
party, the Fazilet (Virtue) Party, formed after the shutdown
symbol
it and
started
flag."64
Later, when Islamist circles were reassembling
65
words,
wearing
lslamist writers
the headscarf,
was "akin to the national
secularism
into the standard
would
of their political
1111998, the Islamic headscarf
who
The Refah Party used the opportunity
controversy
turning
on which
who
of a political
the Rcfah Party's political
by and lost to the pervasiveness
ob-
of this new
paradigm.
Therefore,
the public
the image of the veiled woman
sphere
by the Rcfah
iSI11.The enthusiasm
demonstrated
where women
drawn
to them.
started
Party as a symbol
with which
up in the front
It was through
inlo the public
performances
',t,lrled
t() el11erge as an alternative
nationalist
Party
ideology.
,>I t11<'il11<11:1'
()f the veiled woman was surrounded
rl i.u IlfJ! ou!v ill"ril",d
these
attention
of such images
of the Refah
in
nationalimages
of the Refah Party,
and media
the insertion
womcn
to be promoted
of Islamist
Islarnist circles employed
in the public rallies and gatherings
were gathered
was
of veiled
that ls lamisrn
The promotion
hy a powerful
campaign
11<'11'n.u ion.il 1l11',lning o n the lcmal« hody, luu ,
Illfll'· 11111"11
1.1111,1'1'1f111'cd.r,
ounurdi-«
"III·SC,>I II1()dCrllitv within which
I
I
.-
of the rights of students
by secularists.
10 define
WelS
issue the top-priority
( Irr
the official version,
the authority
on the scene with a political
Party were suddenly
of Islam in the public
in secular public spaces as the sign of
of the Islamic headscarf
controversy
what was
Islam and was not under
of Islam that challenged
and spontaneous
the headscarf
headscarf
the wearing
of secularism,
with offkial
Emerging
the headscarf single-handedly
over the public sphere.
and its apmonumental
was not that the head scarf represented
that was not in compliance
the control
manner
it an issue of public controver-
Islam per se. but that this was a particular
sphere
campus-a
with the official understanding
to secularist
action
as part of a political
of some political
visibility
It was the wearing
not just anyplace,
in secular
it was worn solely in the name of Islamic
as the expression
scarf has given an undeniable
public sphere.
of the Islamic headscarf
was the result of a spontaneous
party the gallant defender
were being harassed
I.,
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a new nationalist
the symbol
produce
ideology
took shape.
of the nation,
an alternative
and unarguably
Designating
this new Islamist discourse
notion
of nationhood.
Muslim, and therefore
the Islamists,
state had used and abused
the secularist
that it had come to represent
everything
according
the female body as a
from her own body and her own home, where she naturally
Proliferating
in publications.
larnist media, this discourse
had lived a relatively
newspapers,
produced
happy
and other
the notion
life under
in accordance
lar state was projected
and corrupting
sources
forcing
by tearing
her to take on careers
state, where "her real
woman
in the public
sphere.
interventions
of the state had undermined
mother
and creator
cultural/Islamic
to protect
national
roots. Hence,
protectors
an equal place alongside
so, the Westernizing
men
function
undermining
as a
Islamists,
on the other
in society
as a mother,
for failing
the very source from which
the nation
from its true Islamic
hand, were projected
who, by restoring
as the true
the rightful
would restore the true cultural
status
basis and
source of the Turkish nation and bring it under their own guardianship.
The RcFah Party's project
understanding
of nationhood
Ottoman-Islamic
lustrated
culture
in subsequent
based
chapters,
and national
identity
of nationhood
of Turkey
with a new national
history,
ciple of nationhood
and transform
national
the existing
( ! (11/,
it sought
I II
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r!
11,1
to powe-r
and t<tq:('l<'d ,III
d
I
/1" ,I
They
HIHma).
nation
The
merely
female body, for them,
albeit conceptualized
of
state in promoting
pursued
campaigns,
women's
the Turkish
identity,
agency
administrative
using
the medium
Refah Party usurped the Islamic headscarf
project.
was one that reveiled
as the unveiling
it so as to challenge
and advance
and promote
as the public visibility
to achieve
related
lic had served
its nationalist
the headscarl
women
wearing
it. It served
agency
at the cost of agency
Just
years had allowed
project,
the reveiling
the Refah Party
project.
Just
in the early years of the repuband to. deny agency
agency
had the exact
same effect
to vest the lslamist leadership
secular state had incriminated
the
and advance
Islamist, nationalist
to vest the state with political
themselves,
In other
its gaals,
of secularism.
in the 1990s enabled
women"
in the
to the female body
the authority
an alternative,
of "modern
during
and manipulatproject,
in order to develop
This intervention
of the female body by the Islamists
to women
body
had
elite [ound agency
meaning
of the female body during the founding
the new state to develop
to formulate
post to a woman
for its own political
of the female
which
in all of its political
worne ns candidacy
with its awn ideological
ing the image of the veiled woman
words,
waman
of t 995. The Islamist political
elections
11\
and
to that of the founding
The party's leadership,
nor did it promote
the headscarf
I
nation,
one that is essentially
similar
III
the same
to secure its own agency, but eventu-
of the veiled
did not give a single
by vesting
also represented
a strategy
the image
the 1994 local elections,
parliamentary
to govern
images of women
promoted
community
with secularists
with a different
primarily Muslim.
The Refah Party
actively
competed
for the wearers
for the
with political
of the headscarf.
Just as the
the Ottoman
rule during the nation's found-
ing years, this time the Islamists condemned
the secular state as the culprit
responsible
allowed
for this harm done to the nation. Again, similarly, this strategy
the [slamists to establish
the protection
and transformation
themselves
as the only agents capable
of the nation toward
Republic
(iJe 1\~i1I~ Hod)',
of
a better future.
ErIJakmi'S \fersace Ties, and Islamic Haute
naprin-
to govern
II',
.iti.un-,
Sillli[;\ritit.<; hetween
()I tl\(' 1'1')()0;
.1',
I(),
tin' "lllil"dil\\('l\t
1,',11,·
the new state of the founding
<io not end wilh the mutual
(II
oIll(II'I'IIIl()t'·
I
t
CoutHre
,\
1\(,\\1
11111111,,/
years and the Islaillists
designation
lu nut ion, intl'l'vt'l1tiollS
of the female body
related
to which
n.u io nu] id('()i()gv. Tilt' tll;tit' h()dy
I I,
r
t\1
I
il.·
~-.
not just pious follawers
the Rcfah
of the established
to came
II
words,
the basic constitutive
nation"
the
culture"
aHiliation,
of the larger transnatianallslamic
community
of the Turkish
the boundaries
"Turkish
promoted
il-
a new understanding
In ather
nor did it seek to contest
itself. Instead,
As further
but the national
citizens
boundaries.
did not challenge
tional community,
shared.
advanced
a new
was a common
as Turkey's "true national
was made up of the existing
Party's ideology
it produced
the Refah Pat-ty leadership
civilization
The party's project
living in the established
because
on what it claimed
that the people
idea of an Ottoman-Islamic
in question
was nationalist
or political
\1
its new nationalist
and modernizing
woman's essential
and alienating
and saviors of the nation,
of woman
away from her horne and
the secular state was incriminated
thereby
is generateJ,
culture.
The secu-
of the nation and had torn her away from her rightful
motherhood,
the nation
rear children
the female body to alienating
and assume
By doing
of the Is-
with Islamic principles.T'
of religious
the Refah I)arty or members
ally they discouraged
that the Turkish woman
the Ottoman
as having subjected
conditions
alienated
belongs.w
place was her home and her basic duties were to he a mother,
and obey her husband
to
efforts to such an extent
but the Turkish woman,
regardless
(the
to live in accor-
However,
and modernization
to
was inherently
its people deserved
norms, and principles.
of its Westernization
used its medium
This nation
dance with Islamic values,
symbol
the female body as
,/111111
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f
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\'
served
W;\o;
;)1<;(1
'"'T
employed
toward
ilS a modern,
similar goals, namely
civilized,
The Islamist intervention
as pronounced
purposes.
nence,
of statesmanship
mode of governance.
with regard to the male body was not nearly
as that of the Hat Law, but it nevertheless
During the mid-1990s,
its leader, Necmettin
in fashionable
the construction
and competent
when the Refah Party was rising to promi-
Erbakan,
suits, noting
served similar
before
the media
his Versace ties, which soon became
started
to appear
his trade-
mark6~ Similar to Atati.irk, who had made a public appearance
and a top hat, thereby
inscribing
wearing a suit
on his own body the norms of "civilized"
modern gover-nance, Erbakan also used his own body to create an image of
modern and competent Islamist statesmanship.
Erbakans
suits and trademark
ties served a twofold
served to vest the lslamisr elite with agency
of a competent
leader who was capable
toward a new Islamist nationalist
discourse
advanced
nation as an Ottoman-Islamic
Versace
ties projected
Whereas
to it the qualities
that redeAned
Erbakan's
modernity,
of this movement
Second,
leadership
along with Western
this intervention
as modem
"uncivilized,"
lacking taste and culture.
Rdah
about
that Islamists
secularists
"dressed
the dominant
view
fundamentalist,
incompetent,
and
to by secularists,
for acquiring
lslarnist writers
of secularist
circles
lacked taste and cultural
for their
reHnement.
for just sitting there and scorning
like funeral
who saw secularhigh-class
scornful
snobbery
targeted
the Islamist
Islamists of the competency
of such deprecation,
Refah Party circles for being
male subject
and agency
Erbakan's
fashionable
( 1 (I
(
II
I
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I
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d
I
leadership.
instead projecting
capable
the
In the face
I P
an image of
of displaying
for his daughter
attended
by hundreds
refined
and lower class. In 1994 Erbakan
at the Sheraton
of guests,
among
Hotel
them models
gone pious and started to wear Islamic headscarves
These
models
organized
were still working
by the newly
these beautiful
and highly
emerging
Islamic
the wedding
wearing
and equally
circles.
These
elegant
women
incompatible
dressed
of men, but were sometimes
with the dominant
images
ding made it impossible
makeup
even seen
were certainly
view of Islamic apparel
as projecting
look criticized
and a refined sense of affluence
to mark Islam as uncivilized,
by
scandalized
and wearing
These
of
garments
and accompanied
fiances or husbands,
posture" or the "funeral parlor attendant"
larists. The parade of elegance
Images
in elegant
makeup
hand in hand with their male companions.
"barbaric
industry.
in the new veiling
were not only in the company
garments.
albeit ones that were
fashion
models attending
a
that was
who had recently
with elegant
shows,
stylish head coverings,
their good-looking
secularist
in fashion
threw
in Istanbul
a
by secu-
at the wed-
traditionalist,
lower
companies
started
class, or tasteless.
The same year, the newly emerging
to run large ads in newspapers
elegant
dresses
Islamic fashion
and magazines
and stylish
Islamic dress code. Tekbir Ciyirn,
portraying
headscarves
beautiful
in compliance
the leading company
models
with the
in Islamic fashion,
started to hold Islamic fashion shows where top models would display the
latest designs
consisted
they walked
garments
in what came to be Islamic haute couture.?"
of both
men and women
watching
up and down the catwalk,
that were relatively
all in makeup
tight-fitting.
loose-Atting
Note
supposed
to involve
contours
of the female body, and makeup
dresses
The audiences
the beautiful
models
as
and often wearing
that the new veiling
and overcoats
is certainly
is
so as to hide the
in defiance
of the
Islamic code.
The emergence
secularist
circles,
of Islamic haute couture
who were disarmed
such Islamic modernism,
by the display
but also elicited
lslarnist circles. A majority
flared at the companies
not only bewildered
scarf from "an item of identity
writers,
such garments
and political
of
from among
and journalists
and turned the head-
struggle" to an item of "fashion
,111dhigh society."?1 They
saw this transformation
1,I;llllic attire and a dilution
of the Islarnist struggle.
Rt'/~;lI'(lIl"s of the reactions
of the possibility
an angry reaction
of Islarnist intellectuals,
that produced
those in
they elicited,
as a degeneration
these Islamic fashion
of
shows
pl;lvnl .u t illlporl;1I11l'Ok in tile creati()n ola new order of class hierarchies
that unsettled
N
to deprive
suits and ties served to confute
the lslarnist elite as competent
and equally
tastes and high cultural standards.
clothes
instead of doing
did.:" This secularist
sought
of political
the image of the "funeral parlor attendant,"
It was not only Erbakan's
criticized
(cenaze iwazllllatqlsi bi,kil, an idiom
parlor attendants"
useful with their time, as Refah circles
that
remarks
accusations
A columnist
used to refer to men with a miserly and inept appearance)
something
"refined"
often wrote critical
as uncultured
lavish wedding
wearing
unsettling
as the prerequisites
standards.
the snobbery
in
circles were very much aware of the kind
they had been subjected
ism and Westernism
subjects
competent
values, ideals, and norms.
toward
of Islam ism as backward,
tastes and cultural
suits with
with regard to the male body of the islarnist
served a crucial function
of snobbery
the Turkish
fashionable
who not only knew the ways of Islam but were also equally
adopting
society
the Refah Party's political
ideology
civilization,
the leaders
and ascribe
First, they
of ruling and transforming
ideal
a new nationalist
function.
of the Islamists
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.I woman. The arrest caught
him while he was still in bed, when the police
broke in with a large crowd
media
The
of cameramen
next day pictures
.11\over the newspapers.
The woman
ludime Sahin, who was unofficially
I
cligious
ceremony,
civil authorities
made public
/'
I
version
a media
ignation
the claimed
ist image of Islam as backward,
high culture.
bodies,
values,
Through
high culture
strengthen
In other
Isla mist political
the secular-
lower class, and lacking cultural
the image
of class distinction
Even though
intellectuals,
words, the
of an Islamic
with regard to both male and female
standard
were produced.
equally capable
and normalizing
barbaric,
but also to advance
interventions
a new Islam-based
cized by Islamist
identities,
this development
there is no doubt
ideology
and an alternative
that it served
by demonstrating
was critito further
that Islam ism is
as secularism of producing an alternative high modernism
it as a new mode of national high culture
Islamism
turn after the eruption
incident
started
and secularism
took a new and sensational
of the Fadime Sahin scandal
with the arrest of the leader
order, lvlLislum Gunduz,
('{otIJi!111
in January
of a controversial
1997. The
Illystical
while he was in the privacy of his /l('d"""11
11,('
NII/it)lilll
111II1
with
words, Fadime ~ahin became
and negotiation
public gaze as
it demonstrates
used not only by the state but also by
of the national
establishing
the damsel/nation
be rescued by the heroic knight/state
the secular media, which
of
the des-
body
the interven-
as the heroic leader vested with agency and authority.
In other
in distress who needed
to
(or other political power), in this case
reestablished
its authority
to organize,
monitor,
and guide the life of the nation.
Analysis
of the events that unfolded
reveals the significant
an ideology,
function
and intrude.
media
to authorize
obscurity,
the secular media to probe
uses the word veil as the mark of
often
respectively.
Therefore,
the secular
The private
is evoked
gaze, but this closure
IS not a finite closure
here as that which
in and of itself
ln other words,
](\"d, or .u iv \)()tiy or horlv part can he designated
I',d..•. .I1}(1\H'\()III:IIII', tl) tll<' 1".11111
"I the priv.u«
'/
1/,
is closed
the private
I'
N
d
I
,
'I
I .~
r
II
!I
.t
I
il'l
,/
I'
and
realm is
any place, any
as closed
Precisely
f'
/I
often
up and
takes the public as the reference
ti('slgn<lted ancl defined by the puhlic gaze, and therefore,
I" I /' ,
mean
media
what is behind the veil to refer to what is covered
to the public.
to thc public
scandal
words used arc ortii and ~ar~aI which
The two Turkish
and "sheet,"
Sahin
the Fadime
[slam as a field of mystery,
that operates
The secular
the private.
around
of the Islamic veil not only in symbolizing
but also in projecting
and even perversion
!
'I()
the mapping
of the secularist
thereby
closed
n
the
exami-
realms,
But, most important,
that needs to be rescued and protected,
uses the phrase
Uncovering the Islamic Body The Case of the "VeiledAlarllyn
subject.
and fragility
"covering"
The clash between
and the constitution
the media as a sign of the vulnerability
ing subject
ever to
in both
the contestations
public and private,
of thc female body as a site of the construction
how the female body is strategically
of Islamic haute Couture served not only to destroy
taste and aesthetic
between
and [slam ism onto the public and the private
of national
by
with her own
the top story
raised in this study. It involves
of distinctions
the Tek!'ir Giyim Web site, httpJ/www
.tekbirgiyimcom. tr, 18 October 2003).
on high culture.
channels
with Islamic attire
and remained
the gaze of the male national
of secularism
secular
the first woman
in Islamic fashion (downloaded from
monopoly
emergence
Ivlodels displaying the latest
neither
press and other media for several weeks.
nation of several themes
4.
an alleged private
was recognized
of the Fadime ~ahin case allows for the simultaneous
and redrawing
Figure
of which
on prime-time
star in Turkey,
Islamic and secularist
secularism
wed to him through
nor by Islamic circles."? Fadime Sahin later "came out" and
appearances
Analysis
of the secular
MLislLim CLlndLlz were
who had been in bed with him was
the legitimacy
of the story, became
become
and reporters
of the half-naked
to the public
hccallsc
of this
-,
ambiguity
and uncertainty
and the private,
since
there
it always
the private
bears
sphere
first recognizes
unenclosed,
turns
the curtain,"
Because
secular
desire,
serve to constitute
bodies
have thrived
on secrecy
of concealed
woman,
turning
other
is added
of the Islamic
sexuality
the Islamist
journalism:
sex, scandal,
order,
lic speeches.
made
politics,
to arrest
What
news
and
and
Prophet
Mohammed
knit followers,
agency
claims
within
some of which
was not revealed
of a crowd
who were
taking
shots
police
of Cunduz
about
The
arrest
while
the police
were
figure
in the secular
f
1/1
r"
II
I /.
The collaboration
bedroom
Columnists
right
ing anything
about
claimed
N
I'
i
,',j
II
II n
"~.
II
(/
I If ,I
II"
the violation
wedlock,
but the legitimacy
whose
viewed
in the
)~hill,
preventing
3 January
quite
a twenty-four-year-old
['vliisliim Cunduz.
him
Iraudulcnt
Jlwdiol, l'oIVillg
;1(.
whll
(Ollk
who
marriage.
was talking
about
how her ill-Intcd
III lur
( I,.
"1
I
"
,1'1"
I'l
have even
five days
the country
was being
The woman
and the alleged
she was tricked
mystical
orders
,11HI
,III
'I \ ..
-
It
"
n.uvctc.
"I
II
"'/1'
inter-
was Fadime
wife of
into this
to seek religious
had led her to the wrong
path
ii:l1l1r<lIltT
II
how
across
woman
graduate
how she had joined
.IdV;III(;li~('
audiences
in tears.
university
figure in the
in a live interview.
appearance
her story
yet religiously
was later disputed
for a news program
news story. A veiled
telling
who was
circumstances.
to this nameless
1997 at 7 p.m., television
in thc studio,
into
and an
was say-
of the woman
demeaning
and no one would
if it had not been
an unusual
no one
an unofficial
No one paid attention
she made a dramatic
to break
in fury, protesting
of the wedding
to hide from the cameras,
her presence
in the Islamic
of privacy
However,
of the privacy
74
attention.
of his half-naked
invasion
to the same
their
of their leader
response
were writing
and
circles
appearance,
and the police
that she was his wife under
legitimate
On
Islamic
speeches
an angry
to privacy.
Cunduz and was subjected
in mosques
for ritualistic
so much media
the media
terrorism."75
remembered
made
between
orders,
abuse of mosques
conventional
and the unsettling
of Cunduz's
witnessed
publicly
and exaggerated
the violation
were
photographers,
by the more
century,
their insistence
particularly
was seen as an outrageous
trying
was being
(ziki,-J
designated
press elicited
sheik.
in Turkey,
and popular
In particular,
meetings
act of "media
("lllighll'IIIlH'Il(,
a popular
1'1
in the secular
later, when
orders
of Cunduz's arrest and the appearance
The conditions
authorities.
away from the cameras.
CClncliiz was already
displays,
the teach-
in 1987) and is not recog-
well-established
have been able to attract
background
a woman,
was being
public
that the Aczmendis
of close-
following
is seen as an improper
display
long
as the leading
mystical
new (established
(dcIgah, places
public
have
the way the
back to the thirteenth
or the Nur movement.
orders),
hy Islamic
some of his pub-
and news
carnivalcsque
CundCiz
breaking
going
by the other
in lodges
of mystical
order
standing
Islamic
But it has been due to their spectacular
with
a
Islamic
ClindUz
of popular
order is relatively
for sensational
was that the arrest
cameramen,
~ahin
of a controversial
he was in bed with
at the time.
of reporters,
have
covering
than
of the Aczmendi
gowns,
that this was exactly
to be a mystical
the network
ways
and heavy
This order, with a small number
out some of their ritualistic
meetings
media.
of the consti-
were
rather
claiming
with Muslurn
nized as fully legitimate
on carrying
turbans
have roots in Anatolia
the Aczmendi
a private
desiring
Fadirne
moment
Cunduz, the leader
while
and interconverging
large
was dressed.
ings of Said Nursi."
photographs
so as to constitute
around
The
to be interrogated
bedroom,
of the veiled
These
programs
Islam.
was out of the ordinary
company
from hiding
of the private,
with political
this ongoing
Muslurn
the Aczmendis,
in Clindlds
identity
that
Islam, and sexuality,
that unfolded
so
orders
confrontation,
and mystified
vested
to represent
of the unconventional
wear
and carry long scepters,
an inappropriate
of Islam, the
mystical
of the kind that had all the right elements
into an apartment
mystical
mark
kind.
and
from
the public
on the body
the private,
1996 the evening
by the
and secured
the mystery
political
The scandal
realm
that comes
and the secularist
is an outstanding
instance illustrating
tution of the secular public subject.
odd story
gaze of
the veil. When
all converge
male, and secular,
On 28 December
hidden
woman
to the realm of the private
the gaze as public,
rather
is closed
because
Aczmendis
However,
by the
as a site full of mystery
than
and concealment),
and able to lift the cover.
to the private
of Islam (especially
of the veil, concealing
been confined
evoked
as that which
to the powerful
it into a site of desire,
of both
"mysteries"
"behind
and overbearing
is conveniently
at once. The mystery
the mystery
ventions
the private
the
the private
the covers,"
attention
The
beards,
gaze
as the open,
of the images
it also emerges
which
it is the body
many things
"Under
confined
gaze by nothing
of women's
headscarf,
Hence,
a site that the public
to the probing
been
and the media,
public
visibility
up and exposed.
rracrcd
order.
such as the Naksibendi
as well as sexuality,
the secular
and allure.
and mysterious
the public
the "private,"
time also constitutes
the veil" are some
Islam has already
state
desire,
around
so as to mark its own difference
"underneath
which
to be opened
but at the same
mystery,
media,
between
an anxiety,
into a site of desire,
as closed
but also desirable
the public.
the distinction
a tension,
the potential
the public,
as a site bearing
secular
surrounding
is always
Appan-nt lv,
people,
Fildilllc
,
)~lhin had previously
he Aczrncndi
I
been a member
of another
mystical
group, whose leader had "forcefully
help, advice, and redemption,
etg(\~t
Fadirne ~ahin questioned
her that it was only a formality,
I
ondition.
i lvrcatened
but unless they were
by the marital bond, he could not be in the same room with her
<11'talk to her. When
marriage
heL"71>Seeking
Cunduz, who told her
she went to Muslum
IIJat he could help save her from her "evils within,"
,onnected
order similar to
married
that it would
and that his strict religious
However,
sex, While
he assured
be a nonofficial
convictions
after the questionable
her into having
his reasoning,
necessitated
ceremony,
religious
such
<J
pre-
Muslum
Ci.indi.iz
Fadirnc ~ahin was telling
this pari
"I her story in tears, the camera zoomed close to her face, dramatizing
her
tears and creating a very intimate sight.
In the following days, secular newspapers
re-
and television
stations
ported that viewers from all over the country had called in to say that they
lelt sorry for ~ahin, that they cried with her, and that they were furious
.ihout the things
)ahin
that were going on in these clandestine
was lined up for interviews
with other
.ind she made similar appearances
weeks. Within
11CWSprogram
a matter
on various programs
in the subsequent
of days Fadime
of the secular stations,
were camping
appeared
on every major
and interviews
were on
and a large group of cameramen
and
for days. For almost two months,
right at the top of the agenda of public debate.
discusson
lems of religious
~ahin
her pictures
on her doorstep
)ahin's story remained
<Lory triggered
orders.
and newspapers,
Ihe front page of every newspaper,
reporters
mystical
stations
of various
marriage
other
issues, ranging
to the legitimacy
Her
from the prob-
of mystical orders. The secular
media had made Fadime ~ahin a star, the flrst veiled media star in Turkey.
While rvli.isli.im Gi.illdi.iz was tried and sent to prison for a variety
•
.nt charges,
Fadirne Sahin made a small fortune
1:Z1ve.A year later, at the end of 1997, the media were still talking
her when she puhlished
her memoirs
revealing
her through
for a woman
if not unprecedented,
her sexual experiences
during a news program.
appearance
lasted close to thirty
1<>talk ahour a nyt hing. let alone her personal
"I,i\ other G1Sl'Sof rape or scandalous
'Illlk,'v,
r'
<1 (1.:",/,1:,,/,
affairs. There
aflairs with political
th;\{
t
Ili ....w;\,., till' w.iv 1'1! II 1/11'1
"If I! 1.11111111
'(
I
\\'.1',
repercussions
dillil'l: I'li1111'·li111l'IH'W' prol·:rdl1ls.
wear brge turbans alld h<:ilvv1:()WIl'"I",v,' I, >1'1:1"",,.,1,,
1·1 1.11111,11
\' 1'1'1/ I
minutes)
have been sevin
Iliit IlOIII' ol th« W0111l'11il1volved were invited to televisio11 studios
1111lrv«, 11,,111111111
illl"lvi,'w,
<1"""
It was
for a veiled woman to have so much air time on a news
l',ogr<li11 (~C1hin's confessional
;1IHI Ci.lITV IOllg ....
c('ptcr"', ciililllil11:
of her experi-
L1isc marriages in order to have sex,
In Turkey, it was quite uncommon,
,i\,o unprecedented
Mitsltim Giinduz merkez dergahm oniinde.
the details
she
about
,'!lces with the mystical orders and how their leaders deceived
III publicly announce
Figure S. The Aczrncndis
of differ-
with the interviews
j
I
II
I
II
r ",1
,
I,
I
f'.I
'.',
d I r ••
.~
II ,/
j
II., ,/
I'
,
The
reason
was veiled
closed
that Sahin
became
and was willing
and "veiled"
the secular
media
This
ing Fadirne Sahin's
story
in order
woman
sermon continues
saved.
of the covered
world
of Islam and
covered
of the secular
media
is well articu-
the media
itself as a "hero
as an object
waiting
for abus-
protect
from abuse,
it is quite meaningful
the Fadime
the Covcnng>"??
of the female
of Islam from the probing
~ahin
story
By presenting
itself from the probing
and it failed to conceal
gazc of the secular
that one of the secularist
with
the headline
"What
the veil as a covering
gaze of the secular
male subject,
and savior" of
designates
oppression"
the veil of silence
regrets
of women
who
as religious
sermons.
This
these women
and announces
that conceals
the world
the "hcadscarl" is presented
the wearer of the headscarf
In this "rescue" operation,
as "those who are
that "Muslim
of Islam.".
as a mistake
is presented
women
are
. In this
and a deviation,
as a victim
waiting
the real party that is being
saved
to be
is obvi-
ously the "savior" itselt.?"
Akras draws attention
Here
which
the secular
media
self as the savior
ed through
the secular
[rorn the
there
of "abused
the Fadime
Muslim
deceitful,
abusive,
were three
female
to abuse
the media
subject
headscarf
f<lils to protect
whose
subject
as the aggressive,
Hy positioning
subjects
against
They
deceitful
these
each other
(incarnated
selves as the secular
male subject
and "save" the helpless
Islamic male subject.
abused
In thc secularist
construction
and the Islamic
male
veil of lslarn,
r f
d
of the story,
which
I
I,
i
II
d
[ailcd
t /,
Noll
I
I
J(
I
both
miserahly
I II
gaze
from being
Islamic
male
body
of the
male and female
and agency
presented
,~.
probing
of Muslum
from the clutches
were
Here
GOndLiz
were able to constitute
who has the power
woman
subject
the
in the bodies
the media
men.
her body
of the Islamic
J!
01
J
the
I
to step in
Islamic
as hiding
,/
them-
of the aggressive
in hoth
/1"
as
women
as the helpless,
to the vulnerable
two images
and Fadirne Sahin, respectively),
The
woman"
also constituted
threat
themselves
victimized
involved.
of the "veiled
it-
that was construct-
of lslarnist
hands
positions
of the way in
l3y presenting
constituted
the image
and violation.
female.
concealing
an image
and aggressive
differ-en!
constructed
subject
body
women,"
of Fadime ~ahin,
displays
function
~ahin story.
male hero that steps in and saves unfortunate,
of the media
vulnerable
to the constitutive
covered
female
behind
(;\',,',
thl'
It Llill'!1
1'1:'"<"
f,
"Tllf' V,·,J,·.Il\l.lIill'll"
I
I
,<
I
I,
I!\kiiid,
I II,'
I /'
j)
lnnu.uv
Ii,'
d I , "
0.
11)1)7).
II
of
I
/l
II
,/
I'
the
media.?"
newspapers
Is Underneath
imposed
to be saved from the
of the veil. The confessional
as a publisher
savior mentality,
whereas
the
world
In this respect,
to present
is imagined
up against
removing
the body
was helping
Islam as a religion for men are presented
standing
into
to protect
clandestine
Sahin
Aktas, who criticizes
Cihan
to peep
she
Aktas writes that in the secular media
Iv!uslims and the burden
perceive
media
because
In a way, Fadimc
intervention
writer
was precisely
the secular
of Islam.
to lift the veil-off
lated by the Islamist
the Muslim
to allow
world
also off of her body.
Muslim women.
an exception
by Islam to
the secular
.,.
media found agency and power in removing
this point,
Cihan
articulation
of freedom
up and closure,
The way in which
revealingly
and confidence,
who carried
rather
attention
than as an act of covering
the secularist
illustrated
covered
male gaze made itself a heroic
for lifting the veil and looking
in the way in which
Fadime
which
~ahin's
collage
photo,
wearing
the same overcoat,
photo of Marilyn
srory.t'
had Fadirne
the popular
The
~ahin's
picture
weekly
is
magazine
on the cover
head on the body
3
(and
at what it concealed
but with a wind blowing
open her coat and revealing
was a
of a model
from bclow throwing
her legs, in a pose reminiscent
of a famous
Monroe,
The story was titled "The Veiled Marilyn,"
read: "We've Become Peeping
and the subtitle
Toms as a Nation:
on the cover
Our Eyes Are in Fadirne's
Bedroom."
This illustration
on the cover of Aktiicl was displayed
newsstand
all over Turkey.
Every copy stood as yet another
moment
to
her veil as the
would not have been a news event."?
lustful) conqueror
Aktiiel
the veil. Drawing
Akras notes that "a woman
of the national
secular
male gaze,
a testament
on every
Cities, Squares, and Statues:
constitutive
to its power
probe into "Fadimc's bedroom"
as well as her private
body. The secular male subject
found agency and power in opening
to
life, her soul, and her
The Use of Public Space in the Making of the Nation
up the
Islamic female body to the public gaze.
However,
the conquest
of the Islamic body by the secular
was not quite [ully successful.
Various subtle and explicit
of the
failed
Stories
secular media to get Fadirne ~ahin to remove her headscarf
were published
of a woman
~ahin,
about her decision
without
a headscarf
all of which
turned
year after the incident,
from your family, because
sponse,
appeared
to unveil.
In an interview
insistently
the headscarf?"
asked her questions
and "Is it because
of your social circles, or because
"It looks like you
going
LIlT
conducted
Fadime ~ahin said she was wearing
have any weight,
[it is not a burden],"
Fadime Sahin remained
ended
up in prison
serving
a sentence
ment in illegal organizational
activity
whereas
for abusing
the nation,
the creation
nation building,
and involve-
LI
Oil
which
other
national
of a sense of nationhood
is relevant
sense of unified territory
becomes
nation
nationhood
community,
resides
hut also about
,,j ~l new sense of nationhood
nationalist
a single
the collective
the imagination
N,r
'IH
II
~.
,'11,//
state rules. In
imagination
of national
of
space.
stage in the construction
and advancement
of a nation-state
museums,
around
memorials,
;\ city. There
of
/1,1,1,
._.
'1'1
...•
is most explicit-
monumental
struc-
is not one city ill Turkey
Ih,ll .I, ••., 11,,1h"v(' ,II Ie,I,1 r n u "111"]'(' with Muxt.il.:
1/'1'
and arbitrary
projects.
1111"<;,.uu] Slillll('S ,,"ll('rnl
III/
of
single piece of land
or in the emergence
Iv .vidc-nt ill various monuments.
',11/11
con-
a vital component
disconnected
and over which
is not only about
The use of social space in the creation
(
and unity that is so
as a unified, monolithic,
I lcncc, cities, spaces, and places take the center
.rln-rnative
re-
of people living
not only to the people
such that what arc otherwise
a single
words,
a new
is the construction
but also to the land upon which they live Therefore,
places come to be imagined
;j
Ivli.isli.im Cunduz
of
subject
land. The sense of singularity
stituting
"it does not
against the secular state.
demarcated
such as
of pressures
that seek to institute
of as a finite community
to the making of a nation
not for anyone
religion
on clearly
projects
space. The institutionalization
essential
and it is a part of her.
veiled and popular,
of nationalist
and define a new national
a
of the media?"
else, but for Allah, and that she would not take it off because
component
sense of nationhood
quires that the nation be thought
to take it off sonn."83 In rethe headscarf
An essential
of national
Photographs
with claims that they were of
out to be fakeB2
the reporter
"Why Me you still wearing
and speculating,
as to whether
male gaze
attempts
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