Head wrapping is an art and a chance to learn
The art of wrapping one's head with cloth crosses many cultural boundaries but remains a mystery to some.
Zarinah El-Amin Naeem, a Detroit-based anthropologist, wants those with questions to learn more about her art. Naeem is the founder of Beautifully Wrapped, an organization that takes her love of wearable, cultural art and teaches others how to do it as well as the meanings behind it.
Naeem travels to teach classes in head wrapping and will present a session at Albion District Library, 501 S. Superior St., at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. She talked to the Enquirer about how she got started doing it, discrimination that can come with cultural dress and what people can learn from it.
The Enquirer: How did you get started in head wrapping?
Naeem: "My family is Muslim. We’re African-American Muslim, so I grew up being around the people who covered their heads in different ways. I didn’t always cover my hair but it wasn’t something out of the norm for me to be around.
"I started traveling to different parts of the world and I got a great response from folks when I would wear my wrap. People would stop me in the bathroom and ask, ‘How did you do that? Can you teach me?’"
"So I started doing these little impromptu workshops in the ladies bathroom and it kind of grew from there to libraries and universities. Yesterday I was at Western Michigan University at their Lee Honors College. I’m anthropologist by training and by mission, really, so my goal is to utilize this global cultural phenomenon of head wrapping as a way to explore humanity and commonalities in general."
As a Muslim, what does this represent?
"Yesterday, one of the things that people said they found interesting was that we live in a political climate right now where there is a heavy lens on Islam and Muslims. In particular, around dress, there is a focus on hijabs and the covering of women, and this word ‘oppressed’ gets thrown around a lot. ‘They have no agency. They have no choice. They’re being forced to wear this cloth on their heads.’
"So you have a lot of people that have this feeling of Muslim women are oppressed, not because they have ever talked to a Muslim woman or saw that, ‘she can’t do what she chooses to do, she has no agency at all,’ but because of the message that they had been receiving."
With that political climate, have you heard people make negative comments or anything like that?
"No, I haven’t had that personal experience. But that is, I believe, primarily because of the way that I choose to wear my scarves. If you think of a traditional Arab style that’s shown most predominantly — the draped look underneath the chin and draped over — that style is what is most commonly politicized now. However, that’s not the only way that Muslim women cover their hair.
"I have had a lot of people in my network receive comments. My friends, driving down the street, people yelling out to them, ‘go back home!’ It’s like, dude, our people have been here for how many years? Don’t you know the history of African-Americans? Like, what do you want us to go back to? It’s quite unfortunate that people have to experience that.
"The Sikh Indians are always talking to me about the discrimination that they receive, and some of the hate crimes that have been committed against many of the Sikh Indian men. That’s some serious stuff."
Tell me about the art part of head wrapping. How personal can it be?
"Yesterday, when I was showing the global perspective of it, we have a head wrapping session and I always tell everyone there, ‘we’re showing you different techniques but this is an art.’ That means that you can make the style your own. If you see someone with a really tall Nigerian gele, maybe that’s not your style.
"You can do whatever you want to, and I think one of the beauties of head wrapping is because you’re using textiles, you have infinite possibilities. There is no wrong way to wrap and basically you can do any style that you choose. From Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, all of those places, to West Africa, to the Middle East, to Guatemala, to Honduras, when you look at the traditional clothing, they have different styles of head wrapping. People can look at that inspiration and make it their own."
What about the mechanics of it? What’s something about doing it people may not know?
"I think some of the physiological benefits of head wrapping are things that don’t always get discussed. Like when I talk about the yogis, for example. In yoga, you’ll find that many yogis at that high level will always begin to wrap their heads.
"I was joking with the ladies and gentlemen who came yesterday because our skulls are in fact made up of a lot of little tiny bones, right? Over time, the bones begin to separate and shift in your skull. So when people wrap their heads, you’re literally keeping your head together (laughs).
"Another thing physiologically, people also talk about how wrapping presses certain chakras inside of your head, and so it can release tension and it can also release certain energy. I think it’s no accident it’s a very popular tool used in meditation."