Representations of the Headscarf in post-September 11 Muslim Women’s Fiction

This thesis argues that the Muslim woman's headscarf acts as crucial marker in post-September 11 literary works by Muslim women living in western societies. Mohja Kahf's The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006), Shaylene Haswarey's The Hijabi Club (2011) and Elif Shafak's Three Daughters of Eve (2016) all feature protagonists embedded in Muslim women's cultural practices and Islamic teachings. This thesis argues that each text constitutes an act of resistance and creative self-discovery. Moreover, each texts offers a challenge to both traditional patriarchal cultural values and western Islamophobic discourses.