Globalization and Religion: Identity and Power
INAES (Institute for North American and European Studies), University of Tehran
15-16 November 2005
Abstract
Cyber Clothing Dilemmas and the Globalisation of Islam
Emma Tarlo
Open University, UK
E.J.Tarlo@open.ac.ukEmma Tarlo has a PhD in Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She is a member of the Association of Social Anthropologists, the South Asia Anthropology Group and a co-founder of the Delhi Research Group. In 1997, she curated an exhibition, From Empire to Emporium which traveled in India and South Africa. My book, Clothing Matters was winner of the Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Prize in 1998.
This paper will focus on one well known Islamic website with a view to analyzing the clothing dilemmas discussed and debated there by religiously practicing Muslims from around the globe. Through an ethnographic exploration of the various sartorial dilemmas expressed and the forums in which they are debated (online discussion forums, fatwa banks, cyber Islamic counseling services etc.), it addresses the following questions: How do individuals situated in highly diverse circumstances seek to resolve their clothing dilemmas online? What do these dilemmas tell us about the phenomenology of Muslim dress and experience? What type of clothing dilemmas immerge from particular locations, and to what extent are these amenable to “global Islamic” solutions? How does the virtual translate into the material and practical through on line clothing debate? These questions form part of a wider discussion concerning the role of dress in the imagination and materialization of a global Islamic community and the role of the internet in promoting this sartorial vision.