The Headscarf Issue and Islamic Feminism in Orhan Pamuk’s Snow

Abstract

The paper titled “The Headscarf Issue and Islamic Feminism in Orhan Pamuk’s Snow” aims to explore Orhan Pamuk as Turkey’s most renowned and controversial writer who boldly expresses his voice regarding the socio-political reality of Turkish history with special reference to the novel Snow as an intriguing representation of Islamic Feminism. Snow symbolizes the microcosm of Turkey, its society, its politics and its Ottoman culture, caught between the East-West dichotomies and people struggling to find sense of one’s identity and belongingness. By engaging such concerns, Orhan Pamuk deconstructs the binaries of the subject and the other relationship and emphasizes upon the unifying position of both East and West as metaphorical means for positive development and equality of all genders and between nations.