Finally it seems the academic study of hijab has come of age. The contributors
to this collection neither treat it as an object of curiosity or derision, nor wonder
at Muslimahs’ “false consciousness”; rather, they treat this “piece of cloth” and
the accompanying dress code as a “normal” object of academic enquiry. For
example, they expand the investigation to include attire for modest Jewish and
Christian women, as well as for secular women who dress in similar ways albeit
for different reasons. The title captures this broad focus by using modest, rather
than limiting the focus to the hijab. While some Jewish and Christian women
also dress modestly, discursive politics only label the hijab as oppressive.
American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences