Back in 2010, while managing a digital language learning product for Scholastic, part of my work involved producing topical videos for teenagers about aspects of British culture.
My favourite of all the videos I produced was one about wearing the hijab, made topical when France disallowed the wearing of the niqab (the full face veil) in public places.
I’m not Muslim but I had always been interested in the different ways that women choose to style their hijab, so making this video was a great excuse to be nosy and ask questions about it.
It was filmed outside SOAS (The School of Oriental and African Studies, part of the University of London). We filmed a lot of these vox pop videos on all sorts of topics, always outside SOAS, but the people I spoke to for this video were some of the most articulate and interesting.
The video covers these questions:
How many head scarves have you got?
Do you match your scarf to your outfit?
How does a girl decide how to wear her scarf?
What do you call the scarf?
Why do you wear the scarf?
Is the French government right to ban the full veil?
Oh and please excuse the rather full-on intro music! It was part of a series aimed at 11-15 year olds.
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