ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the instability of ‘Islamicness’ in the veiling-fashion industry in Turkey. Based on a survey of 174 veiling-fashion firms in Turkey and three case studies of such firms, the chapter reveals how the commodity is inscribed as Islamic in the course of its life, from financing to marketing. It argues that the Islamicness of the commodity cannot in fact be located or fixed; it is instead best understood as a mode of insertion into socio-spatial networks. The study contribute to the broader field of research into how the complexities of Islamic practices and lifestyles articulate with market capitalism.
This chapter demonstrates the instability of Islamicness in the veiling-fashion industry in Turkey. It reveals how the commodity is inscribed as Islamic in the course of its life, from financing to marketing based on a survey of 174 veiling-fashion firms in Turkey and three case studies. The chapter argues that the Islamicness of the commodity cannot in fact be located or fixed; it is instead best understood as a mode of insertion into socio-spatial networks. The veiling-fashion industry in Turkey has emerged over the past three decades from a particular constellation of political, economic and cultural shifts. The element of Islamic economics that is most institutionalized is Islamic banking. In the past 20 years, Islamic banking and finance has emerged as a global phenomena consisting of practices and institutions that seek to avoid interest through profit-and-loss sharing, leasing and other contractual strategies.
