Girl in American Flag Hijab

Abstract

Abstract In this article, I analyze the American flag as hijab both in the infamous “We the People” (2017) campaign poster by Shepard Fairey and its adaptation by Muslim girls and young women during protests against President Trump's inauguration and subsequent immigration policies (including the infamous Muslim Ban). Despite critical acclaim that hailed the American flag hijab largely as revolutionary, I argue that it embodies a symbolic visualization of a liberated Muslim woman figure that is central to the survival of American imperialism. Using frameworks that understand freedom shaped by neoliberal interests and interrogating the histories of the flag in both American immigration and colonial contexts, I demonstrate that the American flag as hijab for girls and women reinforces the larger constructs it seeks to resist.