Object Historical and Social/Cultural Context

THE KEFFIYEH
Object’s Historical and Social/Cultural Context

The keffiyeh, like most objects, has an extremely rich and interesting history. As previously posted in my object description, the keffiyeh’s early common use for many decades was to shield Arabic men from the strong North African and Middle Eastern sun and winds. While I am sure it is still used for this purpose in Northern Africa and the Middle East today, the keffiyeh (over the last 100 years or so) and its purpose have transformed dramatically.

Before the 1930s, the keffiyeh’s only real use was to protect rural Arabic men in the fields from the harsh sun, winds, and sand. Men in the city had little use for the keffiyeh until 1936 when villagers and peasants in Mandate Palestine held a nationalist uprising -- the Arab Revolt -- against British colonial rule and mass Jewish immigration. The rural Arabic men’s use of the kefifeyh had easily distinguished them from the city people, so in solidarity with their fellow Palestinians men of the city began to wear the keffiyeh. This act of unity made it difficult for the British to target orchestrators of the rural uprising.

Following this event, the Western world began to take notice of the keffiyeh during WWII when British soldiers began being stationed in the Middle East. Impressed by the practicality of the cloth, World War II soldiers used the keffiyeh for their own purposes.

It was in the 1960s when the keffiyeh would begin to be associated with Palestine and Palestinian identity. Palestian leader Yasser Arafat was rarely seen without his keffiyeh, neither was Leila Khaled – a female member of the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Khaled often wore the keffiyeh in the style a Muslim woman would wear her hijab. This is interesting because the keffiyeh is commonly associated with Arab masculinity and so many saw this as a fashion statement put forth by Khaled denoting her equality with men and the Palestinian struggle. With other Palestinian leaders, activists, and supporters donning the keffiyeh, the garment rapidly became a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.

At the same time, the Jordanian red and white version of the keffiyeh came into popular consciousness with Palestinian Marxists wanting to differentiate themselves from the wider nationalist movement.

In today’s society the keffiyeh is still worn by rural Arabic men in the traditional fashion – as a headpiece with a small rope like accessory (aqal ring) keeping it in place. Some say that the keffiyeh is less widely worn by Palestinian youth today because of recent links being made between the garment and terrorism. The common appearance of the keffiyeh in suicide bomber videos has no doubt made the association, in part, possible.

Still, the connection made between 50 years ago between the keffiyeh and anti-war and Palestinian nationalism in the 1960s is so strong that it cannot be forgotten. The keffiyeh continues to carry an activist-chic connotation for anti-war protestors and supporters of the Palestinian cause.

On the other hand, the keffiyeh has also most recently and unfortunately (or could there be a hidden positive to this?) taken on the simplistic role of fashion accessory – that is, a fashion scarf dyed dozens of colors and worn loosely around the neck. There is so much that could be said about the transformation of the keffiyeh from what it was once was to what it is today. But interesting points to note about the social/cultural context of the keffiyeh in today’s Western world (keeping the historical context of the garment in mind):

--> economic function – it’s a retailer’s dream! We now have a scarf that can be sold in the summer!

--> with this “keffiyeh craze”, the keffiyeh has lost its ability to be seen as an ideological expression of Palestinian solidarity; many keffiyeh wearers have no clue about the garment’s history

--> at the same time, the West has problematized the keffiyeh and the message it sends; in May 2010, Dunkin Donuts pulled one of its ads because of the image of a keffiyeh in it

Clearly the keffiyeh has gone serious transformations -- historically as well as socially and culturally. Once an item of utility and practicality, it has turned into a symbol of Palestinian resistance to an incredibly mass produced fashion accessory worn by Arabs and non-Arabs alike in almost every corner of the globe. What does this mean to the Arabic diaspora? What does this mean for the Palestinian diaspora?

Sources

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UmX7gvjfe4wJ:ziomania.com/articles2008/Keffiyah.htm+history+of+the+keffiyeh&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
http://www.liveinthelead.com/2010/10/a-history-of-the-keffiyeh/

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/artsbeat/2008/02/13/west-bank-west-end-keffiyeh-travels

Keffiyeh: From Resistance Symbol to Retail Item? Hanley, Delinda C. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs [Washington], vol.29, no.5, pp.63-64, 2010

Stitch in time. Anonymous. New Statesman [London], vol.139, no.5003, pp.26, 2010