In Her Shoes: Transnational Digital Solidarity With Muslim Women, or the Hijab?

Transnational solidarity has been taken up by feminist scholars, social scientists and activists who discuss or practice solidarity with the plights of different individuals, groups, and communities. This paper addresses transnational solidarity by investigating World Hijab Day, a campaign that shows solidarity with Muslim women by encouraging non‐Muslim women to temporarily wear the hijab. By analysing online activities and social media of the campaign, and investigating public debates surrounding it, the paper explores the centrality of the hijab as the unifying symbol. Results include reflections on the representations of female Muslimness, the hijab and gender roles in the campaign and insights on implications and possibility of transnational digital solidarity. Using the data, and drawing on literature of transnational solidarity, significance and implications of transnational activism in different online and digital geographies of solidarity are interrogated. The conclusion discusses the values and limits of solidarity activism that is based on notions or symbols of similarity or sameness and the role cyberspace plays in transnational reach of the campaign, and in creating online proximity.