Abstract
This study examines the role and meaning of the headscarf in lower middle class women’s working lives. It critically discusses the literature on women, Islam and the headscarf in Turkey by questioning the proposition that the headscarf symbolizes an accentuation of Islamic identity against the hegemonic ideal of a secularized woman. Drawing on evidence from ethnographic research, this study argues that lower middle class, working women with headscarves do not formulate the practice of wearing a headscarf as an inseparable part of their identity. Rather, they refer to the headscarf as negotiable and contingent. The narratives of research participants suggest that they tend to unload their headscarf from the meanings attributed to it.
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Sayan-Cengiz, F. (2014). Headscarf in the Context of Precarious Work: A Critical Approach to the Headscarf Discussion in Turkey. In: Kamp, K., Kaya, A., Keyman, E., Onursal Besgul, O. (eds) Contemporary Turkey at a Glance. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-04916-4_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-04916-4_9
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