Experiências do véu: um estudo sobre os desenlaces de ser muçulmana entre as mulheres revertidas da mesquita de Juiz de Fora

Abstract

In the present thesis, I aimed to explore the experience of the Muslim veil within varied analytical ambits. I seek to understand the underlying motivations regarding the use of the veil that transform this habit into such a shocking social action to people outside Islam, and I also try to grasp its meanings to the women constantly wearing this garment. Firstly, I develop a brief account concerning the fabrication of Orientalist discourses, emphasizing the relation between Orient and Occident and how the woman with the hihab became an icon in the context of contemporary social discussions that are promoted in the West. Then, I propose to understand Islam as a nation that functions as a local organization but likewise as a mechanism of international identification. Lastly, from my field experience in the Islamic Mosque of Juiz de Fora, I bring data about the women studied and I approach their conversion to Islam as a process of construction of an identity and as a personal choice of social insertion. This process originates in the body and, with practice, is internalized by the subject. The veil is the icon that guides our debate, operating as an esthetic element that is central to the attempt of comprehending a performance whose vast dimensions are imbricated in the livid experiences.