On the Politics of Viruses and Visibility

A library keyword search of “Muslim women” or “women [in/and] Islam” invariably pulls up a long list of books and articles with titles that include the word veil. The long-standing use of this word—and variations on it—is testament not only to an astounding lack of syntactic originality and to the continued association of Muslim women with “the veil” but also to the need of others to uncover and reveal what is hidden from sight. Often this project of recovery has been informed by a prurient curiosity regarding the activities that transpire in “harems” and “behind the veil”; at other times, by genuine and well-intentioned commitment to “reveal” that Muslim women are not really meek or oppressed. But even these latter…