So, she's not really American?
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Since its inception, America's identity has always been shaped by its whiteness. In the 1920s, many white Americans believed that their way of life was in danger, Senator Albert Johnson of Washington "viewed 'homogeneity' as a necessary component in the preservation of American institutions," as did President Coolidge (Curtis 52). Even before this, colonial Americans "Othered" Native Americans, deeming their Christian-whiteness as superior to their indigenous spiritual identities. In her article, "Moving beyond (and back to) the black-white binary: a study of black and white Muslims’ racial positioning in the United States," Husain states "The flourishing of Islam in black America is heavily associated with protest against white supremacy to the point that 'The Black Muslim Scare of the 1960s what the pinnacle of pre-9/11 fears about the Muslim threat to the American nation-state'" (Husain 592). Husain argues that white Muslims, particularly white hijabi Muslims, lose "aspects" their whiteness because it is "compromised" by their hijab which is "a 'particularly efficient factor of racialization'" (Husain 593). In her research, a white woman, called Allison, described how her identity shifted once she began wearing the hijab discussing how the hijab became a symbol of foreignness to others, she was not seen as a white-American anymore because she was seen as a Muslim. Husain suggests that there is a "separation - if not opposition - between whiteness and being Muslim" (Husain 596). She further discusses how being black or brown and wearing the hijab is seen as more normal than a white person wearing hijab because the black or brown individual is already outside of the sphere of being white, they are already "Othered" by their skin color. For white Americans, the hijab is a symbol of otherness which is therefore seen as a symbol of foreignness which is in opposition of American identity and homogeneity.
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@aleena_anas said in So, she's not really American?:
For white Americans, the hijab is a symbol of otherness which is therefore seen as a symbol of foreignness which is in opposition of American identity and homogeneity.
I think this is a really interesting discussion to have, and I wanted to share a funny encounter my mom had when we were living in North Carolina in the early 2000's. My mom is fully Palestinian and a hijabi, she's from an area in Palestine (Lifta, Jerusalem), where they're known to have more "European" features as light skin, coloured eyes and light hair colour and a small nose. My dad is the complete opposite, he's from a district in the port city of Yaffa (Yibna) and he has darker skin, brown eyes, and thick hair. One Sunday afternoon in North Carolina, my parents were walking together and my mom was wearing an all-black abaya set. A woman approaches my mother assuming she's a nun and asks my mom to bless her. This is unsurprising for North Carolina as it's a Christian white-majority state so seeing a white hijabi woman, they didn't think to connect it to anything foreign but except to connect it with what they can recognize. However, I'm sure that when the woman later realized my mother wasn't a nun (my mom didn't tell her--I'm hoping that she found out herself) she immediately became a foreigner in their eyes.
Moreover, the concept of internalized racism among Muslims reveals complex layers of identity struggle, especially when markers like the hijab come into play. The societal pressure to conform to Western norms often intensifies after significant events such as 9/11, which cast a spotlight on Muslim communities in ways that heightened scrutiny and suspicion. This results in an internal tension where Muslims may subconsciously view Western standards—embodied by whiteness—as superior or as a benchmark for acceptance and success. This internalized sense of 'otherness' can lead to compromises in cultural expression and self-presentation, as Muslims may feel compelled to downplay or abandon visible aspects of their faith to fit into a society that values whiteness as the normative ideal.
This dichotomy between white Muslims who choose to embrace visible aspects of their religion to distance themselves from whiteness, and those who avoid public displays of their Muslim identity to align with societal norms, is fascinating. While I hadn’t previously considered the former, the latter is a more familiar and prevalent dynamic.