Design of a Public Body: Wearing Hijab in the West
<p>Hana Tajima and I recently sat down to talk about one aspect of her work as a fashion designer. Some of the clothing she designs have the particularity to incorporate the hijab (Islamic veil) that currently suffers from an absolute lack of discursive complexity and contextualization. Our conversation is organized in such a way that we first describe the hijab only in its physical characteristics, as “a piece of cloth.” Once we have a grasp at its object properties, we then proceed to intensify it with the symbolic and political position it carries voluntarily and involuntarily within a given context. From the 2004 French ban of hijab in public schools to the most contemporary ostracization of the bodies wearing it, we attempt to demonstrate how the arguments given to antagonize hijab in the West are based on disingenuous predicates.</p>
Host: Léopold Lambert
Guests: Hana Tajima
Part of: The Funambulist Podcast