Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Veiling Among Muslim Converts and Ba'alot Teshuva in America

Abstract

In America, a country renowned for its multiculturalism and characterized as a melting pot of ethnicities, religions, and cultures, it is common to see people of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds mingling together in stores, banks, and restaurants or on sidewalks, buses, and trains. Particularly in big cities with thriving immigrant populations, like New York, Chicago, and Miami, the sight of someone in unusual dress or sporting a particular hairstyle or head covering is no great cause for a double-take. Certainly, the effort to understand and engage with these American transplants' commitment to maintain their religious or ethnic dress and custom in their adopted country involves an entire field of research and study. Indeed, many sociologists, anthropologists, and historians spend their lives charting the path of American immigrants as they integrate into American society while holding onto their cultural backgrounds.