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This groundbreaking volume, written entirely by women, examines the vastly misunderstood and multilayered world of the veil. Veiling- of women, of men, and of sacred places and objects-has existed in countless cultures and religions from time immemorial. Today, veiling is a globally polarizing issue, a locus for the struggle between Islam and the West and between contemporary and traditional interpretations of Islam. But veiling was a practice long before Islam and still extends far beyond the Middle East. This book explores and examines the cultures, politics, and histories of veiling. Twenty-one gifted writers and scholars, representing a wide range of societies, religions, ages, locations, races, and accomplishments, here elucidate, challenge, and/or praise the practice. Expertly organized and introduced by Jennifer Heath, who also writes on male veiling, the essays are arranged in three parts: the veil as an expression of the sacred; the veil as it relates to the emotional and the sensual; and the veil in its sociopolitical aspects. This unique, dynamic, and insightful volume is illustrated throughout. It brings together a multiplicity of thought and experience, much of it personal, to make readily accessible a difficult and controversial subject. Contributors: Kecia Ali, Michelle Auerbach, Sarah C. Bell, Barbara Goldman Carrel, Eve Grubin, Roxanne Kamayani Gupta, Jana M. Hawley, Jasbir Jain, Mohja Kahf, Laurene Lafontaine, Shireen Malik, Maliha Masood, Marjane Satrapi, Aisha Shaheed, Rita Stephan, Pamela K. Taylor, Ashraf Zahedi, Dinah Zeiger, Sherifa Zuhur

Veils --- Veils in literature. --- Headgear --- Hijab (Islamic clothing) --- Social aspects. --- History. --- american muslim women. --- amish veil. --- community. --- controversial. --- cultural studies. --- dress code. --- emotional. --- expression of the sacred. --- gender studies. --- gospel. --- groundbreaking. --- hasidic women. --- hijab. --- identity. --- india. --- islam. --- islamic dress. --- male veiling. --- medieval europe. --- middle east. --- modesty. --- mourning. --- muslim women. --- patriarchy. --- religious studies. --- sensual. --- separation. --- seven veils. --- sociopolitical. --- trauma. --- veil. --- veiling. --- wearing a veil. --- wedding veil. --- womanhood. --- women.

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This Special Issue draws attention to religious transformations currently emerging in the Middle East that diverge from the dominating rhetoric surrounding ‘radicalization’, ‘political Islam’, or the ‘Islamic awakening’. Particularly after the Arab uprisings, other currents seem to be coming more to the fore that need careful examination, such as the contemporary realities of religious ambivalence, religious doubts, disengagement from religious movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the search for alternative forms of spirituality or individualized piety, de-veiling, and different forms of non-conformism, free thinking, non-belief, and atheism. Accordingly, the contributions to this Special Issue provide highly relevant insights into several contemporary debates that are crucial in the social sciences and religious studies. This includes processes of individualization; the study of everyday lived (non-)religion; the anthropology of doubt, ambivalence, and ambiguity; and, last but not least, the deconstruction of the religious–secular divide, a divide that is seen as almost impenetrable according to many actors in the Middle East. This Special Issue consists of a cross-section of current works in social science, religious studies, and related fields on Islam/religion and non-religion in the Middle East. The articles present case studies from different countries in the Middle East, with examples from Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, and Syria, as well as studies on diaspora and social media.

(un)veiling --- gender --- spirituality --- piety --- non-belief --- the self --- Islam --- Egypt --- moral ambivalence --- religious doubt --- Turkey --- Hajj --- Morocco --- everyday life --- self-formation --- anthropology of non-religion --- lived religion --- online activism --- humor --- memes --- nonbelievers --- freethinkers --- atheism --- Syria --- Arab world --- social media --- criticism of Islam --- religiosities --- non-religiosities --- youth --- Alexandria --- processes of individualisation --- Islamism --- Muslim Brotherhood --- disengagement --- the Arab Spring --- social movements --- n/a