Veiling: Tradition, Identity and Fashion - for iPod/iPhone

Why do Muslim women wear the hijab? How do they reconcile different approaches to veiling between generations, across different geographical regions and in different cultural and social environments? How do they negotiate diverse social and cultural influences, pressures and expectations, legal constraints, practical challenges and fashion trends? In this collection we explore the extraordinary range of different styles of Muslim dress and the emotions people can invest in them. Track 1 looks at different attitudes towards veiling in the Southern Indian city of Calicut (also known as Kozhikode), and in tracks 2, 3 and 4, Stefanie Sinclair, Open University Lecturer in Religious Studies, talks to the anthropologist Emma Tarlo, of Goldsmiths, University of London, about different attitudes among British Muslims towards veiling, fashion and the commercialisation of the hijab. This material forms part of the Open University course A332 Why is religion controversial?