What is Veiling by Sahar Amer (review)

of the subtitle. Unfortunately, this attitude reflects and encourages the widespread misconception that one or two years of study will be enough to speak a language, if not fluently, with ease. The author would be surprised to know that it takes anyone two years of non-intensive French language classes just to reach the Intermediate-Mid to Intermediate-High level on the ACTFL scale. In fact, when using this realistic gauge to assess the author’s language development, he seems appropriately close to the Intermediate-High level, as defined by ACTFL; he can handle uncomplicated communicative tasks in straightforward social situations, ask questions to obtain simple information, and express personal meaning by combining known elements and conversational input. That last section of the subtitle also turns out to be a bit of a misnomer as the author writes at length about his distressing cardiac condition whereas it is unrelated to learning French. Finally, it seems a bit offbeat that a self-proclaimed lover of the French language who publishes a commercial book that cashes in on Francophile sentiments would advise young people to study Chinese. Southwestern University (TX) Francis Mathieu Amer, Sahar. What is Veiling? Chapel Hill: UP of North Carolina. 2014. ISBN 978-14696 -1775-6. Pp. 256. $28. Amer proposes a compelling discussion of “the veil” in European and American contexts as well as Islamic. The author begins her overview of the often contentious debate over the Muslim headscarf by explaining that the very translation of the word “hijab” (the most widely-used Arabic term for the headscarf) into “veil” is already fraught with misnomers.These include cherry-picked derogatory stereotypes associated with women’s oppression, jihad, and Sharia Law that have been utilized by Western media to mediatize Islam. Through her erudite prose, Amer carefully unpacks the rhetoric surrounding the veil in clear and informed terms. Her study begins with the question, “What is the Veil?” and then proceeds to delineate and contextualize the many types of garb—Burqa, Chador, Hijab, Niqab, Shalwar Qamis—worn by women worldwide. Contrary to the“English word,‘veil,’”she explains, there is no“one Arabic word [that] exists for [it]”(12). Each chapter of What is Veiling? is rooted in discussions based on “history, religion, conservative and progressive interpretations, politics and regionality, society and economics, feminism, fashion, and art.” These lines of study “offer a deeper understanding of veiling and a more complex appreciation of the range of perspectives of the veil”(17). A compelling revelation Amer makes is that the term “hijab occurs a total of seven times in the Qur’an” and “in five of these occurrences, the term hijab describes situations that have nothing to do with women and do not treat the subject of a dress code” (23). Interpreting the Qur’an closely as a feminist scholar,Amer explains that differences in translation and vague prescriptions, inherent in the centuries-old language, make any hard and fast rules about women’s attire 278 FRENCH REVIEW 89.1 Reviews 279 virtually impossible to infer.Amer’s“excavation”of Islamic teachings and prescriptions, as they pertain to women’s dress and sociocultural and political behavior, is detailed and thorough. She reveals that “new research [...] has unearthed the extraordinary political and social role played by Muslim women in the early history of Islam” and, therefore, more modern, restrictive ordonnances meted out by hardliners, clearly demonstrates that such interpretations“are nothing but imposed constructions”(47). Additionally, the author takes to task Western depictions of Muslim women that have contributed to enduring stereotypes. Hollywood also has created many negative meanings associated with Muslim veiling that have“voided”any“spirituality and faith” and,in their place,instilled the garb with sexual fantasy,“erotic fulfillment,and prospects of penetration and possession”(78).Amer concludes with a chapter on veiling through the arts as articulated in Muslim countries around the world. She notes that artists are increasingly taking active roles in contemporary debates about women and the veil. The veil has become a forum for actively challenging “the homogenization of Muslim women” and, thus, contesting their perceived lack of subjectivity and agency (176). Amer offers a thoughtful and nuanced discussion of the hijab which provides...