School Girls and Resistance to the Veil: Case of Public-School Girls in Tehran
Volume 14, Issue 2, Summer 2012, Pages 120-150
N. Fazeli, F. Mozayan
Abstract In this article, we examine how the central component of cultural policy in the post-revolutionary Iran, 'Hijab' or the veiling policy, is contested by high school girls in Tehran. Qualitative data was gathered through in-depth interviewing among three public-school girls in three districts of Tehran (1, 6, and 12) and analyzed by thematic analysis. Accordingly, we concluded that Hijab, a formal and obligatory ideological code in girls' schools, is resisted by the students in different ways. Paradoxically, Hijab provokes students to create their new but hidden and separated world which is departed from that of the 'state/school ideal'. In fact, challenging the formal wearing codes is the main characteristic of the girls’ everyday life in high schools.