The Concept of Hijab in Selected Political Speeches: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Recently, Hijab has evolved from being as just a religious matter to become one of the most contentious subject in Western societies. The influence of these controversies brought to mind fear, terror, and coercion to Islam. Therefore, this study aims to explore the textual features of Hijab in political discourses by examining power and ideologies found in political speeches. Thus, the study employs a critical discourse analysis to examine the representation of Hijab surrounding political speeches by adopting the three-dimensional framework of Fairclough (1989, 2001). The researcher uses a qualitative method of research to examine and describe the current study. The linguistic investigation of this study reveals that politicians use different expressions; as to show personal beliefs, enmity, hatred to express their hidden messages and ideologies by using certain pronouns and vocabulary. It also concludes that politicians use various negative words, formal and informal language. As for the ideological analysis, the ideology is based on a secular views and limited to political attitudes.