Abstract
To contextualize the western creation of representations of difference in service of colonial power, in Chapter 7 the author analyzes a specific example of western colonial representation of the veiled Muslim woman and details the postcolonial response and resistance. Western media has collapsed complex histories and identities in order to equate Muslim women with the practice of veiling that is seen as innately oppressive by many in the west. The author engages with feminist readings of the history of veiling and with the effect of European colonial administrations on women’s lives. Colonial constructions of the veil as oppressive and the subsequent policies banning or limiting the use of the veil led to grassroots forms of resistance. The history of western visual representation of Muslim women created by and for western audiences created codes that still carry meaning in contemporary media images. What have those in the west been taught about Islam and women in the official curriculum of schooling and in the unofficial curriculum of the media?
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Jones, R.B. (2011). Case Study: The Veiled Women in the Visual Imagination of the West. In: Postcolonial Representations of Women. Explorations of Educational Purpose, vol 18. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1551-6_7
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