Getting comfortable to feel at home: clothing practices of black muslim women in Britain

Abstract

This article explores the role of comfort as an affective encounter across bodies, objects (namely clothing) and spaces. I focus on how bodies that are marked as strange and a source of society's discomfort negotiate this positioning through the presentation of one's body. What does it mean for these bodies to be comfortable or uncomfortable? This question is answered through work done with Black Muslim women in Britain. By exploring how comfort is felt in relation to racially marked bodies, this article develops work on emotional geographies. Comfort is understood as both an emotional product and process that changes as bodies move across different spaces. In noting this movement, I also explore how boundaries around the body (enacted through e.g. the multi-dimensional hijab) presents a particular form of territorialisation that facilitates comfort as we present our bodies across different spaces. These boundaries can be both a source of comfort and discomfort through their positioning as deviant from social norms. In understanding the different roles of boundaries, I explore the social processes that construct comfort (or discomfort) as we move through different spaces. This is intertwined with furthering work on Muslim geographies by challenging the overwhelming focus placed on 'public' facing garments like the headscarf and abaya. Such a focus limits an understanding of the fluidity of Black Muslim women's identities, and how these changes in our clothing practices affect and are affected by the relationships built across spaces.

Disfigurement, the body and dress: A review of the literature

“…Dwyer's () work is interested in revealing how Muslim girls use hybrid fashions (blending different dress styles, for instance “English” and “Asian” clothes) as a way of negotiating hybridised identities. Johnson () discusses the clothing practices of Black Muslim women in Britain and how they “get comfortable” to feel “at home.” This research sheds light on the social processes that construct comfort (or discomfort) as individuals move through different spaces. In particular, Johnson's () research is concerned with how racialised bodies use clothing such as the abaya and headscarf across different spaces.…”

“…Johnson () discusses the clothing practices of Black Muslim women in Britain and how they “get comfortable” to feel “at home.” This research sheds light on the social processes that construct comfort (or discomfort) as individuals move through different spaces. In particular, Johnson's () research is concerned with how racialised bodies use clothing such as the abaya and headscarf across different spaces. The author finds that these clothing practices shift and open up the possibility of “wiggling to get ‘comfy’” with audiences, where certain performances are not positioned as deviant (Johnson, , p. 285).…”

“…In particular, Johnson's () research is concerned with how racialised bodies use clothing such as the abaya and headscarf across different spaces. The author finds that these clothing practices shift and open up the possibility of “wiggling to get ‘comfy’” with audiences, where certain performances are not positioned as deviant (Johnson, , p. 285). Discussing religion, secularism, and the body in the production of subjectivity, Gökariksel () approaches veiling as a gendered spatial practice that reveals the intertwined production of bodies and subjectivities.…”

“…Researchers have discussed the embodied nature of clothing (Adam & Galinsky, ; Entwistle, ; Hansen, ), suggesting that wearing clothes causes people to “embody” the clothing and its symbolic meaning. Recent debates suggest that clothing practices can convey “socially sanctioned” body management techniques (Johnson, , p. 280). This suggests how the body affects, and is affected through, the social processes that construct one's surroundings (Johnson, ).…”

“…Recent debates suggest that clothing practices can convey “socially sanctioned” body management techniques (Johnson, , p. 280). This suggests how the body affects, and is affected through, the social processes that construct one's surroundings (Johnson, ). Put differently, typically, when we dress we do so to make our bodies acceptable to a social situation (Entwistle, ).…”