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Liberalism and the Impact on Religious Identity: Hijab Culture in the American Muslim Context

Hamdah, Butheina
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6648-2223
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo151335793140375

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Arts, University of Toledo, Political Science.
This paper examines the strategies by which the American Muslim community seeks to normalize its presence within mainstream American culture, and assesses how the social and moral customs of liberal society are internalized and operationalized by American Muslims as orthopraxy, or correct practice and conduct. Recent trends by American Muslims toward “inclusivity,” particularly as it requires the prioritization of non-religious, social and/or political understandings of the function and purpose of the hijab, will form the primary focus of this examination. What has become increasingly prevalent is the use of non-religious language pertaining to the hijab, particularly as a religious symbol functioning in and engaging with the public sphere. The central argument will demonstrate exactly how and why the hijab, a key religious symbol, and being a “hijabi,” (an identifier of women who wear the hijab) is being liberalized (and consequently secularized). This liberalization and secularization of the hijab result from the increasing appeal by American Muslim public figures to individualism, autonomy, and other liberal sensibilities over established theological edicts when making sense of why they cover and what it means to cover.
Renee Heberle, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Ovamir Anjum, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Samuel Nelson, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
70 p.
Islamic Studies; Political Science; Religion; Womens Studies
Islam; liberalism; Islam and liberalism; hijab; American Islam; American Muslims; hijab culture; feminism; religious feminism; Islam in popular culture; American Muslim community; Islam in the United States; Muslim women identity; Muslim women in America

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hamdah, B. (2017). Liberalism and the Impact on Religious Identity: Hijab Culture in the American Muslim Context [Master's thesis, University of Toledo]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo151335793140375

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hamdah, Butheina. Liberalism and the Impact on Religious Identity: Hijab Culture in the American Muslim Context. 2017. University of Toledo, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo151335793140375.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hamdah, Butheina. "Liberalism and the Impact on Religious Identity: Hijab Culture in the American Muslim Context." Master's thesis, University of Toledo, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo151335793140375

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

toledo151335793140375
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© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Toledo and OhioLINK.