cultural appropriation,
Khloe Kardashian set off an internet firestorm when she posted an Instagram photo of herself wearing a niqab, or veil that covers the face. Fierce accusations of “gross” and “cultural appropriation” ensued. As a mother to multiracial children and a blended family I decided to dig a little deeper into the culture surrounding head coverings.
In some places, such headcoverings are banned entirely. France prohibits women from wearing the niqab in public, arguing people's faces should not be obscured. Cities across the EU have followed suit. Critics say such bans inhibit freedom of religion and expression, not to mention further misconceptions and distrust around the wearers.
The Headwrap Expo in Dearborn, Michigan, aims to bust stereotypes around this tradition, as well as share new styles, fabrics and scarf-wrapping techniques. The expo “was established to build love and understanding between peoples of the world by tapping into our shared love of fashion,” explained organizer and creator Zarinah El-Amin Naeem. She encourages people to “Speak with someone different from yourself, learn from others. Ask who are they and why they wear the scarf.”
For many people around the world, a head covering is a personal choice, whether spiritual, cultural, practical or fashionable. Head covering uses or meaning can vary depending on the location and/or religion of those who wear it. Head coverings may be worn for a variety of purposes, such as protection of the head or hair from rain, wind, dirt, cold, warmth, for sanitation, for fashion, recognition or social distinction; with religious significance, to hide baldness, out of modesty, or other forms of social convention. Head coverings are now mainly worn for practical, cultural or religious reasons. Until the latter 20th century, head coverings were commonly worn by women in many parts of the Southwestern Asia, Europe, North Africa, and the Americas, as well as some other parts of the world. In recent decades, head coverings, like hats, have fallen out of favor in Western culture. They are still, though, common in many rural areas of Eastern Europe as well as many areas of the Middle East.
Headscarves, headwrapping and other cloth head coverings can be worn big, piling the hair on the head; with the hair tied close to the head but wrapped to be large, like a crown; some women might tie a simple scarf around their head to keep their hair out of their face. People have to cover their hair if they work in a kitchen — and some simply want to look fashionable when they do it.
Many cultures wear head coverings, beyond the Muslim niqab, including Native Americans, Japanese, Turks, Eastern Europeans, Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Jews, Muslims and Sikhs as well as Africans. “White” is a phenotype, not a culture. White people belong to many cultures, including cultures in which head coverings are worn. Head coverings are universal & don’t belong to any culture. People all over the world have been wrapping their heads in cloth for thousands of years. "Black" is also a phenotype, not a culture. Black people belong to many cultures. Just being black doesn’t automatically give a person exclusive ownership of certain hairstyles, clothing, music or food. Being black doesn’t necessarily make a person part of the culture that originally developed these things.
El-Amin Naeem says that in the workshops she holds on headwrapping, Caucasian American women are often apprehensive about wearing a head covering, out of fear for cultural misappropriation. They don’t want to be seen like they are mimicking a culture, even though they want to wrap their hair. “But when you look at traditional clothing in Eastern Europe, they have something on their head, as well; ornate flowers, lace scarves… It is a global phenomena."
At the expo, Nabintou Doumbia, 18, stressed that wrapping hair or wearing a scarf is “not just religion. It’s beautiful.” She said in Ivory Coast, women do it as much as a fashion statement or as a part of their culture, not just for religious purposes.
El-Amin Naeem explains some of the religious meanings of head coverings: Orthodox Jewish women will cover their hair with a tichel or a wig after they marry; showing their real hair only to their husbands is considered a bond of intimacy. Some Muslim women traditionally cover their heads after they reach puberty. "It’s not a marker for marriage, but it is a marker — a protection, a reminder of your self that you are covering for Allah alone," says El-Amin Naeem. The New Testament also directs women to cover their heads, in 1 Corinthians 11:6: "For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head."
Others wrap for spiritual preferences: "There is some type of energy coming from our heads,” El-Amin Naeem says. “When people cover their heads, they are protecting it and blocking negative energy. Some people also say wrapping presses down on different chakras, so it forces you to have a mental focus.”
Filipino Janette Torrico-Woo is from the North, or Catholic, part of the country where they don’t traditionally wear head coverings, but she likes to wear her hair wrapped like the women from the Southern islands.
Rose Onwenu, from Nigeria, is Christian, and even though she must wrap her hair before prayer, she chooses to wear head coverings as a fashion statement. “When you dress up, you feel you are sophisticated and elegant, and you walk differently. You have the crown. You are the queen.”
Carlotta Whitney founded a headscarf business based on her experience with cancer. She was working as a bus driver when she underwent medical care and lost all her hair. Her employer refused to let her wear hats or colored scarves, so she designed a headscarf to look like hair. Whitney has been cancer-free for 17 years, sells her scarves in 18 states and donates scarves to women with cancer. She was so successful with the line, she quit her bus driving job.
It’s practical: Whether you’re growing your hair out or just not happy with a new haircut, “you should never have a bad hair day once you learn how to wrap,” says El-Amin Naeem. “You should always know how to go out and be fashionable.”
Fashion can flatter these cultures, but at the end of the day it's a luxury. Many people are still targeted simply for adhering to cultural traditions, style aside. Across the U.S., where freedom of religion is a sacred foundation of the nation, women have been fired or not hired because they choose to wear a hijab, a traditional covering worn by some Muslim women that shows the face. After 9/11, Sikhs were victims of hate crimes because of their head coverings, which they wear for religious purposes unrelated to terrorism. In February, an entire Arab family was attacked while grocery shopping, accused of being a part of ISIS and told to "take the rag off your head."
We’re all members of a worldwide human culture, regardless of where we live or what we look like. We all enjoy and benefit from things that were not originally created in the place we currently live or by people who look exactly like us. The way to curb ignorance is through education, at events like the Headwrap Expo, where wearing a head covering is embraced rather than shunned.
Until next time. - D💋
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AFFILIATE LINKS & CODES ↓
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Head Coverings: Can I Wear One?
Khloe Kardashian set off an internet firestorm when she posted an Instagram photo of herself wearing a niqab, or veil that covers the face. Fierce accusations of “gross” and “cultural appropriation” ensued. As a mother to multiracial children and a blended family I decided to dig a little deeper into the culture surrounding head coverings.
In some places, such headcoverings are banned entirely. France prohibits women from wearing the niqab in public, arguing people's faces should not be obscured. Cities across the EU have followed suit. Critics say such bans inhibit freedom of religion and expression, not to mention further misconceptions and distrust around the wearers.
The Headwrap Expo in Dearborn, Michigan, aims to bust stereotypes around this tradition, as well as share new styles, fabrics and scarf-wrapping techniques. The expo “was established to build love and understanding between peoples of the world by tapping into our shared love of fashion,” explained organizer and creator Zarinah El-Amin Naeem. She encourages people to “Speak with someone different from yourself, learn from others. Ask who are they and why they wear the scarf.”
For many people around the world, a head covering is a personal choice, whether spiritual, cultural, practical or fashionable. Head covering uses or meaning can vary depending on the location and/or religion of those who wear it. Head coverings may be worn for a variety of purposes, such as protection of the head or hair from rain, wind, dirt, cold, warmth, for sanitation, for fashion, recognition or social distinction; with religious significance, to hide baldness, out of modesty, or other forms of social convention. Head coverings are now mainly worn for practical, cultural or religious reasons. Until the latter 20th century, head coverings were commonly worn by women in many parts of the Southwestern Asia, Europe, North Africa, and the Americas, as well as some other parts of the world. In recent decades, head coverings, like hats, have fallen out of favor in Western culture. They are still, though, common in many rural areas of Eastern Europe as well as many areas of the Middle East.
Headscarves, headwrapping and other cloth head coverings can be worn big, piling the hair on the head; with the hair tied close to the head but wrapped to be large, like a crown; some women might tie a simple scarf around their head to keep their hair out of their face. People have to cover their hair if they work in a kitchen — and some simply want to look fashionable when they do it.
Many cultures wear head coverings, beyond the Muslim niqab, including Native Americans, Japanese, Turks, Eastern Europeans, Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Jews, Muslims and Sikhs as well as Africans. “White” is a phenotype, not a culture. White people belong to many cultures, including cultures in which head coverings are worn. Head coverings are universal & don’t belong to any culture. People all over the world have been wrapping their heads in cloth for thousands of years. "Black" is also a phenotype, not a culture. Black people belong to many cultures. Just being black doesn’t automatically give a person exclusive ownership of certain hairstyles, clothing, music or food. Being black doesn’t necessarily make a person part of the culture that originally developed these things.
El-Amin Naeem says that in the workshops she holds on headwrapping, Caucasian American women are often apprehensive about wearing a head covering, out of fear for cultural misappropriation. They don’t want to be seen like they are mimicking a culture, even though they want to wrap their hair. “But when you look at traditional clothing in Eastern Europe, they have something on their head, as well; ornate flowers, lace scarves… It is a global phenomena."
Comparison of a "tichel" head covering worn by a white woman & a "low bun" head covering worn by a black woman.
At the expo, Nabintou Doumbia, 18, stressed that wrapping hair or wearing a scarf is “not just religion. It’s beautiful.” She said in Ivory Coast, women do it as much as a fashion statement or as a part of their culture, not just for religious purposes.
El-Amin Naeem explains some of the religious meanings of head coverings: Orthodox Jewish women will cover their hair with a tichel or a wig after they marry; showing their real hair only to their husbands is considered a bond of intimacy. Some Muslim women traditionally cover their heads after they reach puberty. "It’s not a marker for marriage, but it is a marker — a protection, a reminder of your self that you are covering for Allah alone," says El-Amin Naeem. The New Testament also directs women to cover their heads, in 1 Corinthians 11:6: "For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head."
Others wrap for spiritual preferences: "There is some type of energy coming from our heads,” El-Amin Naeem says. “When people cover their heads, they are protecting it and blocking negative energy. Some people also say wrapping presses down on different chakras, so it forces you to have a mental focus.”
Filipino Janette Torrico-Woo is from the North, or Catholic, part of the country where they don’t traditionally wear head coverings, but she likes to wear her hair wrapped like the women from the Southern islands.
Rose Onwenu, from Nigeria, is Christian, and even though she must wrap her hair before prayer, she chooses to wear head coverings as a fashion statement. “When you dress up, you feel you are sophisticated and elegant, and you walk differently. You have the crown. You are the queen.”
Carlotta Whitney founded a headscarf business based on her experience with cancer. She was working as a bus driver when she underwent medical care and lost all her hair. Her employer refused to let her wear hats or colored scarves, so she designed a headscarf to look like hair. Whitney has been cancer-free for 17 years, sells her scarves in 18 states and donates scarves to women with cancer. She was so successful with the line, she quit her bus driving job.
It’s practical: Whether you’re growing your hair out or just not happy with a new haircut, “you should never have a bad hair day once you learn how to wrap,” says El-Amin Naeem. “You should always know how to go out and be fashionable.”
Fashion can flatter these cultures, but at the end of the day it's a luxury. Many people are still targeted simply for adhering to cultural traditions, style aside. Across the U.S., where freedom of religion is a sacred foundation of the nation, women have been fired or not hired because they choose to wear a hijab, a traditional covering worn by some Muslim women that shows the face. After 9/11, Sikhs were victims of hate crimes because of their head coverings, which they wear for religious purposes unrelated to terrorism. In February, an entire Arab family was attacked while grocery shopping, accused of being a part of ISIS and told to "take the rag off your head."
We’re all members of a worldwide human culture, regardless of where we live or what we look like. We all enjoy and benefit from things that were not originally created in the place we currently live or by people who look exactly like us. The way to curb ignorance is through education, at events like the Headwrap Expo, where wearing a head covering is embraced rather than shunned.
Until next time. - D💋
FOLLOW ME ↓
FB - https://www.facebook.com/mssoellegant
IG - https://www.instagram.com/mssoellegant
SC - https://www.snapchat.com/add/mssoellegant
Blog - https://www.mssoellegant.blogspot.com
AFFILIATE LINKS & CODES ↓
https://www.ipsy.com/new?cid=ppage_opensubs&sid=link&refer=ws5xn
https://share.fashionnova.com/x/NKprBC
https://glossgenius.com/invite/theglowmother
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