الفهرس 
Re-Reading Veiling/Unveiling as a Site/Sight of PowerOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 431 |  |  |
| | | from | 431 | | |
Abstract
This dissertation analyses seven novels written in three different languages with the aim of discovering the relation between veiling on one hand and power and subjuagation on the other. Beside surveying Islamic feminist stances on the practice of veiling and presenting the different stereotypes about it, chapter one mainly focuses on offering a new reading of the veil as a site/sight of power. This is achieved through a two-fold procedure. The first is reading the connotations of power linked to the concept of veil in the Qur’an and the sunnah, while the second is a re-reading of ocular western theories.
Reading Islamic resources results in stating that veiling is a practice linked to divine power and that women are, therefore, powerful because they are incarnating the image of their creator. Analyzing western texts reach the conclusion that women’s covering up makes them powerful in five different dimensions. In brief, veiling is a marker of subjectivity, agency and authenticity, an inducer of subjective well-being, a global economic power, a tool against hegemonic and colonial power as well as a sign of female bodily control.
The second chapter analyses Hadia Said’s Hijāb Kashif and MaysalunHadi’sZainab, Mary and Yasmeen. It reads veiling as an inducer of subjective well-being on spiritual and social levels. The chapter reaches the conclusions that veiling is an empowering practice on the spiritual level because it leaves a tranquilizing effect on female souls.It is also seen as a marker of subjectivity as well as intersubjective power. Moreover, veiling is presented as only oppressing when it is worn against one’s own volition and that there are other causes for female oppression such as lack of domestic communication, poverty and violence.
Focusing on the idea of female bodily control as a veiling power parameter, the third chapter deals with Assia Djebar’s A Sister to Scheherazade and Maya Al-Haj’sBurkini. Both novels show that veiled or unveiled women have different access to power. Veiling is at the same time a marker of confinement as well as freedom of movement. Unveiling is a sign of sexual abuse, but at the same time is a tool to reach sublimity.
The last chapter addresses the idea of subject constitution through examining three notions: identity, agency and authenticity. These novels reveal the strong relationship between veiling and political events. At specific historical moments, women exercise the agency of free choice through deciding to veil/unveil themselves. Veiled women’s agency is also manifested through playing a vital role in the public sphere.
The conclusionsums up the findings of the dissertation and state clearly that: First, veiling/unveiling and how they are related to notions of power/powerlessness is a purely female matterwhich only women can negotiate and settle. Second, there are other clear reasons of oppressing women in general, and veiled women in particular, and these are worth to be studied and offered solutions. The conclusion also recommends further areas of study.