Only this year did I learn about the keffiyeh scarf being used as a symbol of solidarity with Palestine, pretty much the same time I finally made an effort to understand the Israeli-Palestinian “conflict” (my previous posting on this is perhaps a bit immature - my stances have changed after a lot of research and I’ll make a point to write something new about that soon).
The next thing I heard about the keffiyeh is that Urban Outfitters was selling it - something that seemed like a butchering of a cultural symbol at first. Apparently they had to remove it from their shelves because of complaints of an anti-Palestinian nature.
Recently I saw brightly colored scarves VERY similar to keffiyehs at Hot Topic (seriously haven’t been in there in 7 years or something), and laughed.
I thought to myself, “This is hilarious. America, by nature of its foreign policy being a VERY pro Israeli country, has mainstream stores selling scarves that unwittingly position the wearer to look like they have a pro-Palestinian political perspective”. And I’ve definitely run into people with these scarves and asked politely if they’re wearing them for a purpose or not - everyone I asked that wasn’t at a protest had no clue what was up and regretted buying and wearing the thing for all the attention they’d get.
So I found that totally hilarious and ironic.
I still find it funny, although reading the Wikipedia article about keffiyehs makes it clear to me that cultural symbols can be reinterpreted, mangled, taken up, reinvented, and go through so many transformations besides those that I’ve encountered. It’s actually pretty fascinating. So read up on your keffiyeh:
No Comments on “The Keffiyeh Scarf in Popular American Culture”
You can track this conversation through its atom feed.