The veil is a historically constructed site, a fixed sign used in Euro-America to conveniently and clearly dress the borders between east and west. Recent disciplines like visual and cultural studies, Third World feminism, and postcolonialism have challenged this assumption positing instead the veil's polysemy and its different sometimes multiple meanings according to the individual, and the historical and geographical context. Representations of the veil in contemporary art have appeared quite frequently in Euro-America in the last couple of decades, and in the thesis I set out to demonstrate that many of these visual texts also propose significant reinscriptions of the sign capable of displacing dominant discourse. However, because of the veil's metonymy in Euro-American mainstream culture and 'collective gaze,' the thesis first charts the topography of the trope in history, discourse and visual culture as its entrenchment obviously complicates any use of the sign by artists of Muslim origin exhibiting within the western art apparatus. It then traces three alternative narratives of the veil evident in contemporary practice underscoring their critical importance with regards to gender, politics, representation and the conception of self. I must however concede that the major impetus behind the analyses of the contextualized veil, the postcolonial veil and the subject-ive veil is a belief in the radical power of visual texts to facilitate transnational literacy and translation. The study therefore focuses on the relationship between the location -territorial or ideological- of the gaze and the image. It demonstrates that this relationship or space is protean, plural and full of promise both individually and collectively.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Anthropology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

The Islamic dress code has been forcibly imposed on the women in Sudan, since 1983, and many feminists researchers have criticized the practices of the veil as a tool to oppress women. This study aimed to explore a group of Sudanese women, currently living in South Africa, experiences and perceptions of the veil, whether the veil is a religious dress code or a tool that has been used to exercise inequality.

This thesis addresses the influence of veil architecture on interlaminar fracture toughness (IFT) of interleaved unidirectional (UD) carbon fibre-epoxy composites with the aim to provide insights. Two nonwoven veils sets formed from polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) fibres with different diameters, with a range of increasing areal density, and a sample of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) fibres, with comparable fibre diameter, are characterised gravimetrically and by tensile tests (long and zero span). Consequently, the anisotropy and maximum stress transfer efficiency (MSTE) parameters are shown by these veils. Subsequently, the veils are interleaved within UD composites and assessed for mode I and mode II IFT. In both modes the veils show a strong dependence on areal density before a plateau at high areal densities, although the lower diameter fibres showed higher IFT values. Interpretation of the results reveal that the difference is attributable to the coverage of veils and thus, to the fraction of fibres in the propagation of crack. However, the effect of fibres is quite evident through the fibre bridging mechanism in the propagation of cracks, more significantly in mode I than in mode II. Moreover, in mode I and mode II a linkage of MSTE of veils with low data variability in IFT is observed. With regard to the anisotropy, this is notably significant only for the PEEK sample, though a statistical analysis supports that the IFT values from both types of fibres are consistent. A comparison of data revealed a slight dependence of the ratio mode II/mode I on areal density only for the larger diameter PPS fibre and the anisotropy of PEEK sample has a strong influence on this ratio. In both modes, however, data presented by this study are consistent with data provided by previous work. Subsequently, mass distribution of veil handsheets is assessed for both modes of IFT into UD composites, revealing no significant dependence of mass distribution on mode I IFT, whereas for mode II this dependence is significant due to the effect a variety of fractional open area size and the floculatted fibres. Fractographic observations via SEM (Scanning Electro Microscope) from representative interleaved composites are analysed and discussed.

Although there is much evidence for the practice of female veiling in the Classical world it has for the most part been ignored. Evidence for the veiling of Roman women is found in many sources. Ancient lexicographers list many names for veils that these women wore. Each of these veils was particular to the context in which they were worn and by whom they were worn. The plenitude of veiling terminology as well as the specialized nature of these veils alerts the reader to the importance that the Romans attributed to the veil, suggesting that it formed an important part of their culture and this is described in visual and literary terms by ancient artists and writers. From discussions on modern veiling it is possible, through the application of a comparative methodology, to create models that can elucidate the Roman system. From anthropological studies undertaken on modern veiling cultures, it can be appreciated how notions of 'honour' and 'shame,' a belief in the evil-eye, the polluting force of the female body and the use of the veil as a means of sexual communication influenced Roman veiling. In this way it becomes possible to understand how the veil became a marker for the positive forces of femininity and for the containment of the negative influences. The veil became a signifier of sound gender relations. The fact that this vestimentary code is able to generate meaning in the minds of observers is because it works in conjunction with a rhetorical system of dress. The practice of veiling is therefore viewed by the Romans in a positive light, and its disruption is understood by them as a cause for concern. This concern was especially apparent during the late republic. The dissolution of the traditional forms of government was in some ways problematized in terms of gender, with women's abandonment of their traditional roles and their incursion into the public sphere being of specific importance. In order to remedy this, attempts were made by the new regime of Augustus to promote a return to what were seen to be traditional gender relations. This programme of moral reform made use of both formal, legalistic decree (the Julian marriage laws) and more propagandistic constructions (the public works of art). In this process traditional symbols assumed a high degree of salience. Because of its power to signify the beneficial and appropriate status of the female body, one of the most important of these symbols was the veil. In this dissertation the artistic and literary manifestations of veiling and its social and political significance are discussed with specific reference to the Augustan period. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

The Islamic dress code has been forcibly imposed on the women in Sudan, since 1983, and many feminists researchers have criticized the practices of the veil as a tool to oppress women. This study aimed to explore a group of Sudanese women, currently living in South Africa, experiences and perceptions of the veil, whether the veil is a religious dress code or a tool that has been used to exercise inequality.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2010. / "Graduate Program in Political Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 309-326).

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The Islamic dress code has been forcibly imposed on the women in Sudan, since 1983, and many feminists researchers have criticized the practices of the veil as a tool to oppress women. This study aimed to explore a group of Sudanese women, currently living in South Africa, experiences and perceptions of the veil, whether the veil is a religious dress code or a tool that has been used to exercise inequality. / South Africa

My work seeks to reveal the relationships between woman and man, woman and self, and woman and the space which she inhabits. Through personal memoirs and everyday observations the private becomes public, and moments of intimacy transpire. Intimacy requires dialogue, transparency, reciprocity, and self-disclosure, all things that I have been reflecting upon in my work over the last two years. Relationships are formed within the works and through the experience of the viewer with the art. Figures and abstraction coexist next to one another informing the viewer of things familiar, creating closeness, while also spatially confusing the viewer, creating a distance. Moments are filtered through abstraction and illuminated through touch. These moments, while often small and fractured, combine together to create a full and complete reflection of the self and the other.