Miss Elsa and the Veil: Honor, Shame, and Identity Negotiations

This article explores the meaning of the veil as a religious symbol and its connections with notions of shame, honor, and identity, especially in the Islamic context. Using personal narrative, interviews, biographies, and fiction, together with historical data and scriptural traditions, Davary explores the meaning of the veil and its reemergence while acknowledging the historical heterogeneities of Muslim women's lives. She draws insights from a juxtaposition of the ban on the veil in Turkey and its compulsion in Iran. Central to this article is the notion that women are defined by their bodies and that the symbolic representation of women in religious texts, myths, and stories affects women's power, subjectivity, and identity.