The Crown of a Man: Muslim Skullcaps, Modernity, and Belonging in the Nineteenth-Twentieth-Century Indian Ocean World

Across the Indian Ocean, Muslim men in different locales wear almost identical skullcaps, referred to variously as kofia, kopiah, topi and fez (amongst other names). This article traces the shifting styles and meanings of these skullcaps during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Zanzibar, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India. In so doing, it situates the wearing of this item of clothing within broader historical themes, such as Islamic cosmopolitanism, imagined communities, and masculinity. It then links the changing meanings that skullcaps had to broader historical moments, such as the imposition of European colonial rule, anti-colonial resistance, and the emergence of independent nation states. At different times and places, men’s skullcaps can be understood as a symbol of the wider Islamic community (ummah), of resistance to colonial rule, and of national identities.