The Paradox of (In)visibility: Naqaab and Self-Employed Women in the Public Spaces of Srinagar, Kashmir

Abstract The paper explores the paradox of (in)visibility among the self-employed naqaab 1 -wearing women in urban public spaces of Srinagar. 2 Drawing on ethnographic narratives, the paper adopts a ‘non-representational’ methodology to explain the existence of such paradox as a mode of living. The paper argues that for these women, as economic agents in the market spaces, visibility does not contradict the invisibility features usually associated with naqaab and broader Islamic imperatives of purdah and modesty. Rather, both these forms of presentation co-exist as a unique mode of their economic living. In the beginning, the paper briefly discusses the broader notions of purdah system to contextualize the imperatives of naqaab and its relation with the idea of visibility, followed by a section on methodology. A contextualizing section on the broader socio-cultural changes historicizes the theme of the paper. Two later sections are based upon direct ethnographic vignettes. The central finding is that the paradox doesn’t manifest any sort of contradiction or clash that needs a resolution, rather it acts as an ontological condition of these women’s economic life.