The subject of veiling and face veil is nowadays one of the most controversial topics in the media and the public domain. Most people, and especially politicians and journalists, in both Muslim and non-Muslim societies, seem to have a strong opinion about it. Many books and articles have been written about the question as to why women wear a face veil and whether or not it represents a form of oppression. In contrast, there is very little information about the face veils themselves, the various types and the regional variations.
This book describes and illustrates the history of face veils, from its pre-Islamic origins to the present day. It tells about the many regional variations, from Morocco in the far west to Central Asia in the northeast. It emphasises the role of face veils as a form of dress and identity, rather than a garment that conceals an individual's persona.
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood (Ph.D. Manchester, 1989) is director of the Textile Research Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands. She is a textile and dress historian specializing in the Middle Eastern dress, notably archaeological items from ancient and medieval Egypt. She has been working in the field of veils and veiling since the early 1980s.
Willem Vogelsang (Ph.D. Groningen, 1990) is the former curator for Southwest and Central Asia of the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, the Netherlands. He is now cultural and regional advisor to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and mainly works in Uruzgan, Afghanistan. His interests focus on the archaeology, history, culture and political developments in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of his main publications is The Afghans (Oxford 2002; updated reprint 2008).
Dress is a subject which always provokes comments ranging, for example, through approval, admiration,
surprise, sometimes objective and sensible appraisal, condemnation as frivolous and extravagant to
frequently hostile criticism; indeed this short list could be further extended... Into this minefield step the authors of the book under review which aims to provide a wide introductory survey. Their aim is ambitious but
they are well-qualified with considerable experience of fieldwork and in the case of Gillian Vogelsang-
Eastwood, Director of the Textile Research Centre in Leiden, a sound practical knowledge of dress
and an interest in the subject which can be traced to a group of face veils dating from the thirteenth
century discovered at Quseir al-Qadim on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt where she took part in the excavations of the site....
The book is .... a treasury of remarkable information and is best approached as a resource which scholars and students of dress can sample to create their own reference manuals.... Apart from its value as a source of reference the book is a stimulus to further research perhaps into the intriguing phenomenon of the pan-Islamic veil?
Jennifer M. Scarce
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee --Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 20, 2010, pp. 221-222
