Trendy Scarfs
I don’t like Kaffiyeh wearing hipsters. They are so stupid. But as a Jew, sometimes feel like if I say something to those wearing Kaffiyeh for a fashion statement, I will be seen as a reactionary or anti-Palestinian. I am neither of those things. But what do these idiots think they are doing?
The Kaffiyeh is a cultural and religious object for Arabs and Muslims, so I have a pretty big problem with people wearing them and buying them from places like Urban Outfitters (see proof here) when the are described as “anti-war” scarfs. Mobius of Jewschool argues, and rightfully so in most cases, those most often pictured in Kaffiyeh are fighting wars…but that is besides the point.
Mobius reported earlier this week that Delia’s - the young woman’s cool clothier - now is selling “Peace Scarves” in dark blue. Again he looks to the regular wearers of Kaffiyeh and to the title of the scarves at Delia’s.
So the point of this post is to ask what do people, whose people wear these garments traditionally, feel about this trend in the Western fashion Kaffiyeh and the co-oping of the cultural and religious symbol as an piece of consumerists activism. So, what do you feel?
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People will use anything to make money, this is just one of them. I don’t even bother to think about these things anymore. I used to get pissed of when religious or cultural apparels are marketed as something noble to help that cause, but the main reason behind them always been to make money.
I agree with Jina, it’s all about the money!
Peter Jacob,
Hitler loved blondes. So are these people upset about the abundance of blondes in Hollywood and in modeling agencies?
The fact that people in the West are selling/buying Kaffiyehs is meaningless. It would be nice instead, if they could get there governments to give fair treatment to the Palestinians. It would be nice if they could get Western media to give the Palestinians fair media coverage.
This is similar to the phony “Save Darfur†movement. The people crying the biggest crocodile tears come from countries that are fuelling violence, not only in Darfur but in other regions of Africa.
In The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), people who wear these Kaffiyeh, they are usually member of a volunteer based Iranian paramilitary force or member of Revolutionary Guards! we (I can say almost more than 70% of people) don’t like them because they do have fanatic and extreme ideas. they act like they are Go army and anything Khamenei’s ( Supreme Leader of IRI) says it should be done because he’s god’s representative on the earth
It’s good to know that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (IRI president) was (and still is) member of Revolutionary Guards who is suspicious for participation in some state sponsor terrorism in overseas and running death squad in IRI.
Fariborz Shamshiri
ı agree with jina. but people dont wear it meaningless.
I would always wonder why so many people wore those scarves abroad. In Egypt, while I was studying at AUC, my friends and I felt like people wore it to make a socio/political statement without being very informed on the issues. I’ve seen many people in Holland wearing it too, mostly girls at the universities in my town. I would highly doubt that they see it as anything other than a fashion trend. While I’m not Palestinian, it does annoy me a bit, a little like people who wear Che Guevara shirts but can’t point out South America on a map.
One “Western” Kaffiyeh wearing viewpoint.
This is an interesting topic, since I wear a green and black kaffiyeh, live in the US, and am not Arab or Muslim, but neither am I a “hipster” as Peter put it. Here’s my personal logic and decision in wearing it, but I can’t speak for others.
I got my kaffiyeh from a friend at our annual International Street Fair. She is an American Muslim convert and now runs a small clothing business importing clothes, scarves, and various other items for American Muslims. The kaffiyeh is handmade and the money went both to her business and to help support the Muslim Student Association on campus. I have put considerable time into studying and listening to people–Arabs, Jews, Christians and others–and their perspectives on the complex relationship between Palestinians and Israelis, as well as larger politics of the Middle East and North Africa region. I do active political organizing with Muslims and others in my community, study Islamic politics and culture, as well as do my best to follow independent Arab media and bloggers (MEY being one of them). I spent the last year trying to raise awareness and money for Lebanese refugees, and have helped several friends put on talks and films screenings from their trips to Palestine. I can have an intelligent conversation about Hamas and Hezbollah without having to use the word terrorist and have tried as best as I know how to be an informed and vocal advocate for supporting positive and challenging negative depictions of Palestinians (and Arabs and Muslims more generally) in my community and in my academic work.
I have always worn scarves and bandannas since I was much younger, far before I had any awareness of the Palestinian struggle or its politics, but only in the last year started wearing an explicitly Palestinian Kaffiyeh (green and black checkered). For me, it is a way to show solidarity with their struggle, but also a way to engage people in daily life. “That’s a cool scarf,” someone says, and then I get a chance to tell them what it means, and where it comes from–a chance I would not have had otherwise.
But I also understand the frustration with seeing cultural or religious objects treated as trinkets, or sold as “peace scarves” in Urban Outfitters. I don’t agree with such things either. But it’s a hard line for me to walk, since much of the clothing I wear is either made by me or comes from other countries, so I always worry about how others will perceive me–or the statement they think I am trying to make, rightly or wrongly–just by the clothes I wear. I do my best to wear it with respect and be conscious of a social obligation to know what I am talking about when I have it on–and even when I don’t.
So that may not be a suitable answer–some might say I should still not wear it–but that is my personal story about why I wear a Kaffiyeh.
I can have an intelligent conversation about Hamas and Hezbollah without having to use the word terrorist
But they are terrorist organizations, so why talk about them without discussing such things? My guess would be that you are more than willing to talk about the good that Israel does as long as you constantly remind people that the Occupy the West Bank or that the US is a great place to live but must remember they started a war. (all of this is true, and important to remember but you can’t talk about Hamas or Hezbollah without talking about their terroristic activities.)
And here is the other thing. I may be wrong here but in my limited travels in the Middle East I have never seen any Kaffiyeh in a color other than black/white or red/white, both meaning different things.
This black and green Kaffiyeh you speak of is part of the making money situation everyone else is talking about. About five years ago it was Buddah who’s face adorned t-shirts and necklaces. I don’t see a difference.
Thanks for the response folks.
Peter,
Just wanted to let you know I liked your post so much I posted it on my site, NowPublic.com. Here’s a link to it.
Thanks Ryan!
I love the kiffiyeh as a shoulder wrap for men and women. I think it is cool. Far better than wearing Crocs
Ray Hanania
Agreed.
Well done Ray!
Peter Jacob.
I remember seeing a teenage girl wearing an IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) T-shirt. I see amazon.com is selling them and they are also selling Kaffiyehs.
The links you gave show people wearing Kaffiyeh in a militant situation. There are millions more who wear it, who are not involved in the violence.
RJ-
This is true, but please take a look at this passage again:
Mobius of Jewschool argues, and rightfully so in most cases, those most often pictured in Kaffiyeh are fighting wars…but that is besides the point.
It does not say those who wear Kaffiyeh are fighters of wars, it says those who are pictured wearing Kaffiyeh are fighters of wars and in many cases terrorists. It is important to get the truth behind a media frenzy. I happen to think a majority of the hipster culture surrounding the trendy Kaffiyeh is because of a mistrust of the media that pictures the “evil Arab terrorist.” The hipster then wants to show solidarity with the culture that is ignored by the media, man!
It is crap. Many people wear US Army T-shirts but that would be to say you support the US Army and what they do. To wear a headband style Keffiah or wearing it otherwise is a similar statement politically. Not thinking that wearing a Kaffiyeh is support of the groups (such as Fatah, Al Asqsa MB, etc) but a stance of solidarity with the people is stupid; wraping your self in a flag doesn’t say I support the people, it says I support the cause/country/government.
But like I said “that is besides the point” of the post. The post was a cultural question.
Peter Jacobs you wrote,
But what does he base this claim on? Maybe fair.org can do a study of how people wearing Kaffiyehs appear in the media.
If it is true that those most pictured in Kaffiyeh are fighting wars, is that the fault of the Palestininans or the media? Is the Palestinians fault when Israel decided to support and allow to flourish Hamas as a rival to the secular Yasser Arafat?
Often the media will show us bearded men wearing kufis and long gowns, burning American and Israeli flags and chanting anti-Western slogans. So then should we dislike men who have beards and/or wear kuffis and/or wear long gowns?
How the media uses photographs and what it chooses to report is more impoortant to discuss than what some stores are selling.
Peter, you wrote,
Maybe people in the West who wear the Kaffiyeh have access to alternate media that show the scarf worn by every day people not involved in the violence.
I’ve seen photographs of it being worn by men on their head as arab headress. THey will show them in scenes of Palestinian streets and farms or looking over a home that has been destroyed or a person that has been killed. There are Palestinians that are buried wearing the Kaffiyeh.
It’s interesting to note that in the second link you put up http://jewschool.com/2007/07/16/delias-offers-keffiyehs-as-peace-scarves/ the photograph Mobius has of a millitant is not wearing the Kaffuyeh. You can see the people making comments below the photo making similar comments.
Oh by the way that Delia website has changed the name from “peace scarf” to “Euro scarf” and it says “We apologize, but Euro Scarf is no longer available for purchase.”
I stand by that statement, but let me clarify because it is an important point. What I mean is if we can ONLY have a conversation about groups like Hezbollah, Hamas or any armed non-state actor (ETA, FARC, EZLN, etc.) by ONLY seeing them as terrorists–flat and one-dimensionally–than we have already lost the ability to have a meaningful conversation about real social change with these groups and any others in society. I for one am not willing to call a Hezbollah engineer in the Dahiyeh or Bint Jbeil or a teacher in some part of Rafah or Bil’in a terrorist simply because they may identify with or ideologically support, to varying degrees, these groups in some form.
I also think we have to be able to see the intricacies of politics in their many forms, and simple statements like Hezbollah or Hamas or any armed group is a terrorist—therefore end of story—and dialogue, in my opinion fails to hold weight. I think this goes for all discussions of violence and “terrorism,” especially since much of the international world media only talks about terror when it is done by non-state actors, and never by nation-states. Why aren’t the U.S. actions in Iraq acts of terrorism? (as portrayed in the hegemonic media narrative) It’s all about how we use the language. I think filmmaker Bassam Haddad did a great job of addressing this problem of label limits and the complex realities they mask in his film Arabs and Terrorism.
Your guess would be off point Peter. I am willing to talk about either Israel or Palestine if asked, and I feel no need to withhold my opinions about actions taken from either side on various matters, whether I view them as begin positive or negative. I look at actions more than rhetoric. Are you suggesting that we should not discuss the fact that Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian land, or that the U.S. is illegally occupying Iraqi land? I agree its not enough to only talk about that, but I refuse to exclude that from legitimate discussion.
And specifically as to the U.S., I don’t know that the U.S. is a great place to live. I haven’t lived in other country yet, so I can’t compare my own experience there. But I can give you dozens of reasons why living in the U.S. is not all its cracked up to be, top among those being a public with a near complete lack of concern for anything in the world that is different, inferior or a threat, leading to a deep skepticism and withdrawal from civic activism. I think the analogy I best heard for this goes something like: this country is a man in a plane who just jumped off the cliff and is gliding on the wind, but very soon he will realize the engines have failed and he will go into freefall.
It’s amazingly disempowering–whether amidst the privilege and excess of urban elites or living near poverty in rural the United States–growing up with your head filled with grand dreams about making your dream come true only to grow up and find out how unlikely those dreams really are, and what has to happen to make those dreams come true…you can have it all, if you don’t mind spilling someone elses blood to get it. All I can say is that it is very difficult growing up and living in a country when you feeling like you are opposed to almost everything that is held up as an ideal and as the goal, but no matter what you say, it is still being done in your name, without your consent.
Yes, red and white or black and white are the ones I am most familiar with, although I have also seen blue and occasionally purplish. My friend said it is a rare color she had never seen before, and that was one of the reasons she had originally offered it in her hijab store. I’ve also seen odd colors, or ones like these as well. Ultimately, buying fabric and clothing from Palestinian craftsman and women, as she does, helps in some little way to support their domestic market and make a living. I fail to see how that, even if the color may not be a “traditional” or typical color you would find in the streets of Gaza, West Bank or wherever, does that make it any less valid to wear? If anything, that would seem like a positive way, through direct purchases, to help support an above-ground economy in Palestine that has been choked through blockades, sanctions, and internal instability? I still see that as a legitimate form of expressing my support. Perhaps it would be more accurate if I said I have a green and black scarf made by a Palestinian scarf maker, and not a Palestinian kaffiyeh…? I don’t know.
Ultimately for me what matters is the intent behind something. For me, it’s not to look cool or try to show my politics, but about seeing interconnected relationships, be they in clothing, culture, music or food, between people and their struggle for real justice. I wear the green and black scarf because it feels right, and I trust my instincts. Here’s a picture of me in it, you can draw your own conclusions. But that’s my take on this personally.
That may not seem any different than a Buddah shirt to you Peter, but to me it feels different… Although on your point, this post by kabobfest is a good one to explore. I’d love to hear more feedback, as I am trying to be open to all opinions, but also explain where I am coming from.
I occasionally were my shemagh/Kaffiyeh I wear it as a protest against the stereotype image of good and bad.
My scarf is actually Australian defence force issue and as an ex service man I feel it is part of my uniform, it also draws many comments from “Redneck Americans” about me being a terrorist. Unfortunately these people are so ignorant they cannot tell enemies from allies.
It does not matter what you wear it is how you treat other people that is important. I am in favour of peace and tolerance I do not care if the peacemaker is a Jew Christian Muslim Hindu or atheist I will support them.
[…] these people seemed to be wearing them more as a fashion statement. Maybe you’ve noticed the same thing […]
so now what ur saying is no one should wear those scarves because it reflects there support for the palestino which because its wrong to support them?
I agree to a certain level.
But, I’m half israelian, and i see nothing wrong with wearing these scarves.
true they are a symbol of culture, but what’s cultural diversity for? You have to understand that we live in a transcultural society. We borrow things from different cultures now and then, and don’t think of it as “consumerists activism”, cause i’m pretty sure everything you’re wearing right now defeats that statement, cause I don’t think you’re dressed in a spodik and reckel. Don’t bracket yourself into thinking the israelian culture is going to end with scarves. Don’t be naive.
If anyone is going to end this culture, it would start with people thinking that it’s ending.
When I see people wearing these in New York I dont have a problem with it at all. I think people should feel free to express their points of view on political topics. What I DO wonder is whether the wearers understand what their accessory signifies. I’m afraid that too many of them dont understand at all.