Re-Wrapping and Re-Signifying Meaning: An Analysis of Turban Day

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session III
  In Interactive Poster Session: Global Communication and Social Change Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Due to post-9/11 violence against Sikh men, Sikh's across the globe have begun hosting an annual event to educate masses on the principles of Sikhism to combat xenophobia and violence. Turban Day occurs in densely populated, global cities wherein Sikh men and women wrap a turban around non-Sikh bodies as they explain Sikhism utilizing talking points provided by the Sikh Coalition. This paper seeks to examine the practice of Turban Day by identifying and analyzing the turban as an artifact that signifies Islamophobic fear of potential violence, analyzing the discursive formation of Turban Day through media, exploring the differential body politics of wearing religious artifacts in public, and the productive use of Bhaktin’s carnival to subvert dominant hegemonic meanings of the turban as potential threat.

Author

• Nandita Sabnis, Arizona State U