Ebook: Veil

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

The veil can be an instrument of feminist empowerment, and veiled anonymity can confer power to women. Starting from her own marriage ceremony at which she first wore a full veil, Rafia Zakaria examines how veils do more than they get credit for.

Part memoir and part philosophical investigation, Veil questions that what is seen is always good and free, and that what is veiled can only signal servility and subterfuge. From personal encounters with the veil in France (where it is banned) to Iran (where it is compulsory), Zakaria shows how the garment's reputation as a pre-modern relic is fraught and up for grabs. The veil is an object in constant transformation, whose myriad meanings challenge the absolute truths of patriarchy.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Review
“Rafia Zakaria, journalist and author, unravels the complex nexus of attitudes, policies, and histories revolving around this object in her fascinating new book, Veil. She demonstrates how the object can serve as a moral delineator, a disciplinary measure, a signifier of goodness, or as a means to subvert or rebel social norms. Through personal narratives and detailed analysis of various social and political conditions Zakaria offers an engaging and nuanced assessment of the veil in the contemporary context.” – New Books Network

"An intellectually bracing, beautifully written exploration of an item of clothing all too freighted with meaning." ― Molly Crabapple, artist, journalist, and author of Drawing Blood (2015)
"Rafia Zakaria’s Veil shifts the balance away from white secular Europe toward the experience of Muslim women, mapping the stereotypical representations of the veil in Western culture and then reflecting, in an intensely personal way, on the many meanings that the veil can have for the people who wear it … Zakaria’s more personal, philosophical approach is intended to contest the singular meaning that the veil has acquired in much of the West. By exploring the subjective experiences of the veil, we begin to see how both wearing it and not wearing it have profound psychic resonances for those who make these choices, as well as for those who regard it with hostility or even just curiosity … [Veil is] useful and important, providing needed insight and detail to deepen our understanding of how we got here―a necessary step for thinking about whether and how we might be able to move to a better place." - Joan W. Scott, The Nation

About the Author
Rafia Zakaria is an attorney, political philosopher, and a columnist for DAWN Pakistan. She is a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Nation, Aeon, Guernica, the New York Times, among other publications. Her book The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan (2015) received acclaim in the New York Times, NPR, Ms. Magazine. Christian Science Monitor,The Boston Globe, The Toronto Star, Bustle, Hindustan Times, DNA India, Indian Express, Calcutta Statesman, Dissent and The Nation.