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Kim ShivelySouth AsiaThe material form of Muslim women’s modesty
in South Asia, appearance, is frequently defined
and described politically with respect to powerful
cultural Indian and Islamic influences on dress
(Tarlo 1996). Though Muslim women living in
Bangladesh, India, Kashmir, and Pakistan share a
similar regional socioeconomic and geopolitical
history their “Muslimness” is often juxtaposed with
the Hindu religion, the predominant religion of
India. Since the partition of India, Muslim women’s
identity in nationalist struggles of Bangladesh,
Pakistan, and more recently in Kashmir has been a
subtle social construction and personification of
modesty.
south asia 503Religion and gender in India are politicized in the
public arena to differentiate Muslim and Hindu
communities and their power (Shahida 1990). The
politicization of Islam and Hinduism is an impor-
tant issue that circumscribes traditional daily life
practices in general and the lives of Muslim women
in particular. Muslim women regardless of socio-
economic status and religiosity suffer dual minority
status not only as members of the minority Muslim
community but also as females who are relegated
to minority status, as are other women in India
regardless of religious orientation (Lateef 1998).
Within this sociopolitical climate, for the purpose
of solidarity there is pressure within the Muslim
community for both men and women to conform
to Islamic standards for gender, dress, modesty, and
decorum. Simultaneously, there is also pressure
from the Hindu community for minority Muslim
women as females to adopt female Indian cultural
codes of conduct, including an understanding of
modesty and aesthetics.
Like Muslim women elsewhere, South Asian
Muslim women’s modesty can be understood and
socially constructed through the concepts of ™ijàb,
™ayà±, and purdah. Regional, national, and ethnic
variations exist cross-culturally but often local cus-
toms defer to the Islamic Middle East (El Guindi
1999). In addition, South Asian women’s modesty
parallels Persian and Afghan women’s expressions
and practices (Daly 1999). Typically, for Muslim
men and women, ™ijàbis understood as the act or
process of covering specific parts of the body. For
women in particular, ™ijàbis also an actual cover-
ing that conceals varying degrees of the head,
shoulders, and upper body. £ijàbpractices are pre-
sumed to be governed primarily by the Islamic con-
cept of modesty known as ™ayà±. Observant
Muslims may choose to follow ™ayà±by wearing an
actual garment such as a ™ijàbin a local or pre-
scribed cultural regional manner like the Pakistani
dupatta (head covering, long rectangular thin
scarf). Purdah is a multi-dimensional concept of
spatial and psychological gender separation that
both Muslim and Hindu women may observe
(Jeffery 1979, Papanek 1973). A family may desig-
nate an actual space within the confines of the
domestic environment for purdah, or similar to
™ijàb, designate a covering that conceals the female
wearer from potential male observers, especially
unrelated males. Additional variations, interpreta-
tions, and subtleties of these three concepts exist
throughout the South Asian subcontinent.
In contrast to Muslim women living in India, the
identity of Bangladeshi women has been in part
constructed and conflated with issues of nationality,