Myths and Reality: Meaning In Moroccan Muslim Women's Dress

Abstract

This study examines the Meaning of Moroccan Muslim Women’s Dress. It reviews the English language literature on symbolic consumption, sign, self, identity and clothing and informs it with an overview of an Islamic worldview relevant to the sample (Moroccan women). Clothing is a highly visible, publicly consumed cultural artefact and, as such, provides an excellent illustrative example with which a study of contextual, situated meaning can be properly considered. In so saying, the Islamic World View and the culture which springs from it is essentially included and, consistent with the critical case methodology employed, a historic, social and legal background of the Moroccan empirical context is provided. Given that the thesis itself is situated within the marketing, consumer behaviour, consumption, consumer culture theory, symbolic consumption literatures implications for using particularly symbolic consumption theory for non-western samples is considered as are the implications for theories applied to Muslim samples across the social science disciplines, most especially the consideration of the impact and importance of Islam for Muslims and of transcendence as a motivator for behaviour and presentation. The study format was in-depth interviews with nine young Moroccan women and their mothers, in Morocco. Data included background interviews, the focal interviews, questionnaire results and field notes allowing a comprehensive corpus to be complied and, so, a detailed contextual picture to be developed. Methodological contributions are made with regard to accessing such a sample and considerations necessary to design a successful research project with a Muslim sample. A further outcome was a highlight of differences in ethical considerations when studying particularly women from a Muslim culture with regard to definitions of privacy, public domains and propriety. The overall implications from the study point to a considerable gap in the extant literature and theory when considering such samples, making research projects utilising these respondents of negligible value in terms of a contribution to knowledge.

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