Browsing by Subject "hunnuttautuminen"

The purpose of this research is to deepen the understanding of the culture of the veil among Somali women in Finland. The research deals with ethnicity, identity, easing the immigrant's readjustment with the help of one's own culture, and the connection between the religion of Islam and the veil. The veil will be studied from both the historical and religious point of view. The research will also familiarize the reader with the dress code for women in the Koran. The empirical part of the research is carried out as a qualitative study with the help of content analysis, with emphasis in phenomenology. The aim of the phenomenological research method is to reach a person's experience world, and to search for common contents from individual experiences. The material for this study has been collected by interviewing ten Somali women. Some of the women wear veils, some do not. It can be said, on the ground of this research, that the decision about taking on the veil is made by the women themselves. The main cause for wearing the veil is to indicate religiousness. As other motives we can see a search for security, enhancing of solidarity, individual interpretation of the instructions of the religion, covering the ethnic dress while outside, protecting men from the beauty of women, and wearing the veil in the mosque or while praying. As a latent motive we can point out the resisting of Western culture. Not wearing the veil can be justified by the women's need for independence, the veil being unpractical, the want of modernity, the alternation of different ways of dressing, the adaptation of the new culture, abandoning one's own culture, and abandoning the external emphasizing of the religion. Also the veil is not part of the Somali culture; it is a habit adapted from elsewhere.