Call for papers - Unveiling Fashion: Gender, Islam and Global Modernities

This collection of interdisciplinary essays will trace the historical trajectory of the production, circulation, and consumption of Muslim femininity and fashion from early modernity to the era of transnational globalization. The essays will collectively work through the politics of zenana (feminine) fashion, to unravel how dress and appearance have historically constituted complex, embodied performances of Muslim feminine identity and community in the global arena. Our goal is to investigate the aesthetic and political impact of discourses of modernity in the fashioning of Muslim womens bodies, dress, and lives in multiple geographical sites from the early modern period through the post-9/11 era. We are especially interested in essays that theorize fashion in new, innovative ways so as to complicate traditional accounts of the harem, seraglio, and zenana as secluded spaces harboring communities frozen in time. We welcome scholarly contributions from a broad spectrum of disciplines (such as literature, film, history, religion, anthropology, gender studies, and art history, etc) and addressing topics including (but not limited to):

• Censorship and Iranian Cinema
• Bollywood Aesthetics
• Performance Traditions in Islamic Cultures
• Theatre and Empire
• Memoirs, Letters, and Autobiographies
• Orientalism and Travel Writings
• Graphic Novels and Comics
• Art and Visual Culture
• Architectural Spaces and Everyday Life
• Representations of Harems and Seraglios
• Weddings and other Ritual Ceremonies
• The Glamour Industry and Consumer Capitalism
• Cross Dressing and Border Crossings
• Power Dressing and Politics
• Veils and Headscarves in Public Discourse
• Citizenship and Civil Society
• Identity and Faith in Islamic Diaspora

Please submit an abstract of 300-500 words and a brief CV to unveilingfashion@gmail.com by July 31, 2012. Authors will be notified by September 15 whether or not their abstract has been accepted. The deadline for full-length article, if accepted, is January 15, 2013. Articles should be between 6,000 and 9,000 words in length, accompanied by an abstract of around 200 words. All submissions will be peer reviewed and the editors will notify authors of acceptance for publication by March 15, 2013.

Preliminary inquiries are welcome: kindly address them to unveilingfashion@gmail.com