eprintid: 10204936
rev_number: 10
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/20/49/36
datestamp: 2025-02-19 11:47:41
lastmod: 2025-02-19 11:50:05
status_changed: 2025-02-19 11:47:41
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Appleford, Katherine
creators_name: Rajina, Fatima
creators_name: Sharma, Sonya
title: Young Muslim Women on Nadiya Hussain, Turbanisation and the
Politics of Respectability. Navigating Public Space and Islamophobia
ispublished: inpress
divisions: UCL
divisions: B16
divisions: B14
divisions: J81
keywords: Nadiya Hussain, Turbanisation, Fashion, Hijab, Muslim, Racialisation, Religion,
Respectability, United Kingdom
note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
abstract: Using the changing image of British celebrity and Great British Bake Off Winner Nadiya
Hussain as a catalyst for exploration, we consider young British Muslim women’s attitudes and
practices towards the turbanisation of the hijab and the politics of respectability. Drawing on
focus group data with young Muslim women based in London, England, we examine this
sartorial practice, which Nadiya Hussain represents in her celebrity career, and argue two
overlapping points. First, the adoption of a turban style of hijab is considered by our
participants to be a more contemporary form of veiling, and more palatable to white and nonMuslim audiences. It is perceived to obscure their religious identity, affording them a greater
level of respectability, enabling them to traverse often burdensome representations of their
faith, racialisation, and Islamophobia encountered in the public sphere. Second, while the
turban allows for respectability in the context of white society, the women doubt if it is “proper
hijab,” and thus turbanisation presents a potential challenge to their religious respectability. As such, the paper contributes to theoretical debates concerning respectability and appearance,
showcasing the complexity of managing the expectations of religious practice and white
society for young British Muslim women. It reveals the significance of turbanisation as a tool
for acquiescing and merging into the dominant white society for these women, and it
emphasises the intersections between fashion, celebrity, religion and race.
date: 2025
date_type: published
publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
official_url: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/SOR
oa_status: green
full_text_type: other
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2362662
lyricists_name: Sharma, Sonya
lyricists_id: SSHAO14
actors_name: Sharma, Sonya
actors_id: SSHAO14
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: The Sociological Review
issn: 0038-0261
citation:        Appleford, Katherine;    Rajina, Fatima;    Sharma, Sonya;      (2025)    Young Muslim Women on Nadiya Hussain, Turbanisation and the Politics of Respectability. Navigating Public Space and Islamophobia.                   The Sociological Review           (In press).    Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204936/1/Sharma_ApplefordRajinaSharma7Feb2025.pdf