R. Arzu Unal

University of Amsterdam, Sociology and Anthropology, Alumna

İbn Haldun Üniversitesi, Sociology, Faculty Member

Bogazici University, Sociology, Part-time Lecturer

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2 Books

Papers by R. Arzu Unal

Wardrobes of Turkish-Dutch women: The multiple meanings and aesthetics of Muslim dress

Wardrobes of Turkish-Dutch Women: The Multiple Meanings and Aesthetics of Muslim Dress This thesi... more Wardrobes of Turkish-Dutch Women: The Multiple Meanings and Aesthetics of Muslim Dress This thesis addresses the diverse and changing sartorial practices of Turkish-Dutch Muslim women by exploring the effects that particular garments and combinations have depending on the ways and contexts in which they are worn. Going beyond the divisions of veiling and nonveiling and the exclusive categories of -habitual‖ and -conscious‖ headscarf practice, this research enables a better understanding of the complexity of what it means to be a visible Muslim woman in the Netherlands today. It rearticulates Muslim sartorial practices as inherently related to the dilemmas of everyday clothing, and emphasizes that women make choices informed by a wide range of factors, including piety, generation, aesthetics, gender, economic status and social context. Finally, it argues that women's sartorial practices have transformative effects on both themselves and on their relations with others. In general, this thesis goes against the grain of arguments that deny the continuities and historical associations between certain items and styles in Muslim sartorial practices and endeavor to explain the novelty of the -modern Islamic headscarf‖ as a product of wardrobe modernization. Such an approach presupposes a sharp rupture with the past, and analyzes current sartorial practices as if they are essentially different from those of the past. Rather than relying on firm categories of -old‖ and -new‖ headscarf practices, this thesis emphasizes the shifting and ambiguous character of Muslim dress. This emphasis entails a revision of some of the main assumptions of the discourse of -wardrobe modernization,‖ which has also shaped scholarly attention: the anticipated disappearance of religious clothing in modern, secular public spaces and the incongruity between fashion and religious clothing, or, alternatively, the newness of combining fashionable styles and religious dress. This dissertation is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out primarily in the Netherlands between 2007 and 2011 among women of the Turkish immigrant community, along with brief periods of research in Turkey. It draws on a combination of in-depth xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the help, trust and faith of a number of people and the support of several institutions, this project would never have succeeded. My first and greatest debt is to the many women from the Turkish-Dutch community who shared their stories with me and allowed me to become part of their lives in the Netherlands. Their company helped me to recover from my own longing for home-indeed, their hospitality, care, support, and delicious food made me feel at home in the Netherlands. In order to protect their privacy, I cannot mention their real names, but they will recognize themselves in the unique moments we shared, some of which I include in this dissertation. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Annelies Moors for her extraordinary support and invaluable advice throughout this long journey. Many times in our meetings, Annelies helped me to interpret puzzling ethnographic material and to get to the point. I benefited greatly from her close reading of my chapters and her comments-she provided me with both the structure and the freedom I needed to conduct my research. I also would like to thank Emma Tarlo and Akile Gürsoy for their advice, especially in guiding my attention to wardrobes at the very initial stages of my ethnographic research, which gradually became a major conceptual and methodological tool for my research. This dissertation is the outcome of research (partially) funded by the Cultural Dynamics Programme of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. I would especially like to mention two institutions that hosted me during my fieldwork and writing process. From 2007 to 2009, I had the privilege of working as a fellow at ISIM (International Studies of Islam in the Modern World) with many exceptional scholars in Leiden. It is very disappointing and still hard to believe that such an inspiring and productive institute was closed down simply because of lack of financial support in the Netherlands. I would like to thank

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Formats, fabrics, and fashions: muslim headscarves revisited

Material Religion, 2012

Abstract: Changes in the sartorial practices of Dutch-Turkish women who wear Muslim headscarves m... more Abstract: Changes in the sartorial practices of Dutch-Turkish women who wear Muslim headscarves may be summarized as a shift from sober, religiously inspired forms of dress towards colorful, more fashionable styles. A focus on the materiality of headscarves indicates, however, that the relation between Islam, dress, and fashion is more complex. The main motivation for the women to adopt headscarves, including the fashionable ones, is religious. They do so because they consider it a practice prescribed in the foundational ...

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Undoing Patrilineality: New Maternal Families and the Politics of Naming in Turkey

Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World, 2020

Based on the topical life stories of fifteen single mothers from Turkey, this article traces the ... more Based on the topical life stories of fifteen single mothers from Turkey, this article traces the act of naming as a practice of social and legal boundary making and as a means of undoing patrilineality and to seek acknowledgement for a new maternal family. Analyzing the politics of naming in the stories of these single mothers, this contribution first discusses the stigmatizing aspects of conventional patrilineal and marital family naming in Turkey. It traces changes in the registration of family names, how single mothers decide on the registration of the father’s first name, and their concerns and strategies during these legal, bureaucratic procedures. Whereas family law reform has given more rights to single biological and adoptive mothers, they still remain affected by the emotional aspects of a stigmatized practice. Strategically planning their future and that of their children, one solution is to use naming to merge their maternal families with their own paternal families.

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The Genealogy of the Turkish Pardösü (long overcoat) in the Netherlands and beyond

Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion New Perspectives from Europe and America, Jun 2013

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Formats, Fabrics, and Fashions: Muslim Headscarves Revisited

by R. Arzu Unal and Annelies Moors

Material Religion:popularizing islam: muslims and materiality, Sep 2012

Changes in the sartorial practices of Dutch-Turkish women who wear Muslim headscarves may be summ... more Changes in the sartorial practices of Dutch-Turkish women who wear Muslim headscarves may be summarized as a shift from sober, religiously inspired forms of dress towards colorful, more fashionable styles. A focus on the materiality of headscarves indicates, however, that the relation between Islam, dress, and fashion is more complex. The main motivation for the women to adopt headscarves, including the fashionable ones, is religious. They do so because they consider it a practice prescribed in the foundational Islamic texts and because presenting a pleasant, up-to-date look can be considered as a form of visual da'wa. At the same time, however, wearing particular styles of fashionable headscarves also performs other, non-religious, identities and forms of belonging, such as those pertaining to status, ethnicity, and professionalism. This is evident in how fabrics (such as silk) and shapes of headscarves (square or rectangular) matter. An investigation of headscarves as particular items of dress is, in turn, helpful to understand the limits of a focus on aesthetic styles and fashion. The headscarf format makes these items of dress easy to acquire and hard to discard, because they are often received as gifts. A woman's attachment to particular headscarves-materializing social relations and functioning as souvenirs-goes beyond aesthetic styles and mitigates the force of fashion.

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Books by R. Arzu Unal

Notes on Sartorial Representations of the Middle East

“Notes on Sartorial Representations of the Middle East” in Joseph, S. and Zaatari, Z. (eds) Hand Book of Middle East Women. Routledge, 2023

The Routledge Handbook on Women in the Middle East provides an overview of the key historical, so... more The Routledge Handbook on Women in the Middle East provides an overview of the key historical, social, economic, political, religious, and cultural issues which have shaped the conditions and status of women in the region. The book is divided into eleven thematic sections, providing a comprehensive guide to understanding the current and historical contexts of women in the Middle East, each giving groundbreaking insights into various aspects of women's movements:

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Fashioning the Female Muslim Body: From “Hiding Beauty” to “Managing Beauty”, in Leibelt, C. Bollinger, S. and Vierke, U. (eds.) Beauty and the Norm. Palgrave Studies in Globalization and Embodiment, Palgrave Macmillian,

Palgrave Studies in Globalization and Embodiment, Palgrave Macmillian

Tesettür is an inclusive term that refers not only to the religiously inspired Muslim dress, but ... more Tesettür is an inclusive term that refers not only to the religiously inspired Muslim dress, but also more broadly to the cultivation of a modest pious self that is not restricted to clothing. Beyond the binary of veiled and unveiled sartorial styles, fashioning a pious, modest self requires a more complex and nuanced way of managing one's appearance. Instead of examining how Turkish-Dutch Muslim women deal with the stigma of being members of a sartorial minority in the Netherlands, my research explores the ambivalent meanings and contested practices of being visibly Muslim by focusing on a more commonly shared practice: the application of makeup among tesettürlü women. Using certain amounts of cosmetics in a proper manner has become a common yet a highly contested practice in fashioning a modest tesettür appearance. In particular, wearing make-up is a challenging practice, as it is often promoted to make a person look more attractive. There is a thin, ambiguous line between a healthy natural look and an attractive look.

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