The veil as a site of struggle in Omaima Alkhamis’s  <i>Alwarifa</i>

Omaima Alkhamis’s Alwarifa (2008) is a Saudi Arabian novel that captures the vivid experiences of Aljohara, a veiled Muslim physician residing in Canada. Despite its rootedness in contemporary cultural discourse on the veil, the novel remains largely underexplored globally. This article contextualizes its reading of Alwarifa within the broader context of scholarly work that seeks to reinterpret the meanings and legitimacy of the veil beyond the polarities of Western categorization. In particular, Massimo Leone’s conceptualization of the veil as a ‘meta-semiotic device’ whose ‘essence lies in its “betweenness”’ (Leone 2012, p. 276), creating fluid spaces that can evoke a diversity of meanings and complexities offers a useful paradigm to the reading of the narrative. As such, the reading of Alwarifa engages with the concept of veil within this context, where diverse geographical locations as well as acts of veiling and unveiling foster a sense of ‘betweenness’. Aljohara’s veil with its material manifestations, as I will argue, holds her in a state of ‘betweenness’ that is emotionally and geographically driven. The opportunities for self-discovery presented by Saudi and Canada extend beyond the limitations imposed by cultural and social constraints and acts of veiling and unveiling become integral to these moments of transcendence and resistance. Indeed, the veil in Alwarifa seems not to be loaded with religious significance, as a sign of faith, as much as it serves a secular purpose, a symbol of social and psychological states, embodying Aljohara’s uncertainty and the complex experiences of veiling across continents.