I wanted to share some interesting things  I uncovered about the perceptions of beauty and body images on the Silk Road.  I ran across many current events that are very relevant to my topic but I digress in my attempt to include those subjects. Here’s why. I’ve come to realize there is a tremendous amount of tension between the Chinese government and Uighur societies on the topic of beauty and body images. Apparently, the Chinese government has pushed forth their notions of beauty through a series of beautification campaigns.  They call it ‘Project Beauty’. The idea behind the campaign is to promote unveiling the faces of Muslim women, especially in the Uighur society. In some provinces it is a civil offense to wear a veil.  See, Uighur’s trace their ancestry back to the Turkish dynasty on Tarim Basin. It wasn’t until after the death of Genghis Khan in the late 16^th century that Uighur populations converted to Islam, thus the majority of Uighur women in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China are Muslim. Although not mandatory, wearing a hijab (veil) is customary in the Islamic faith.  This project directly targets Uighur Muslim women. On the other hand, the Chinese government defends its motives for Project Beauty as an aim to put a stop to forced veiling. The government also contends that in the wake of so many Islamic extremist uprisings, veils (or covering the face in general) may become synonymous with terrorism. So, once again I am setting parameters for what I will and will not discuss in my narrative about beauty and body images in the Uighur society. Don’t get me wrong, typically I would be very vocal about where I stand with this issue but, I’ve decided that it’s best to approach this in a different way. The ramifications of my outspokenness could possibly result in more tension as our Silk Road website will be available worldwide. At the same time, it’s interesting to make of note this debate as it adds context to the images that I am uncovering for research. Now my analysis will be centered around how these differences in opinion perpetuate a hegemony of what it means to be beautiful.  Today, as more Han Chinese relocate to urbanized areas in Uighur communities, the overall idea of beauty is imminent all over the place. Fashion shows, beauty pageants, talent competitions along with anti-veil signs and anti-veil security checkpoints,  all reveal this much noted controversy. This is a big deal however; in this circumstance I’ll remain silent on this discussion. Peace folks.

One of our most recent quizzes asked the class to choose a name from a list of the 99 names of Allah. Right away i picked Al-Aziz, The Victorious One. Now, I don’t proclaim to be religious, but I respect religious institutions and that name stood out from all the rest. If you read my blog titled “Minus One” then you’d know we lost a team member. I took this quiz during the time we were rethinking the direction of our project.  Our team set up of a meeting with our TA and instructors. We were able to organize our ideas into a cohesive digital  research project. So, after consulting with our TA and our instructors we are back in motion!  Although we still have research, archiving and mapping to achieve, today I feel victorious.  Our instructors provided us with some great advice and direction. We have finalized our location and decided on a cohesive topic that fits our own interests perfectly. We will not be discussing childbirth, education and medicine. While reevaluating our roles and communicating about our sources, we found we were able to take some things out and put some things in.  Readjusting was another unforeseen challenge but it provided us with an opportunity to really dig deeper into brainstorming. Because our team was in the beginning stages of our project there was room and time to make the necessary rearrangements. So, we came to a consensus and we’ve decided to that take a closer look at the Uyghur society in the autonomous region of Xinjian China.  My teammates have revamped their topics to reflect a more harmonized subject matter. I’m excited to say the least. My research has increased. My level of interest has increased. The correspondence between myself and my team mates has improved tremendously. We have already started to locate some interesting places with the Uyghur region. Again, I feel victorious. For me, it’s important to note the unforeseen challenges when working this a project like this. Losing a team member and rearranging our entire focus definitely threw a curve ball into our plans. Nevertheless, we are making huge strides towards a fantastic, digital, never seen before analysis about women, queer identities, sexuality, femininity, beauty and body images in the autonomous region of the Uyghur society.
The lesson here is all about pushing forward even through adversity. Again, I’m inspired by Xuan Zang’s historic journey. We definitely hit a bump in the road. No pun attended. The team feels more enthusiastic about the overall project. (I think they feel victorious too) I don’t want to start the celebration to soon but it feels wonderful to know we are on the right track. Still, there is so much more work to do but we have proved that we can get past the challenges and move forward. In hindsight, I’m glad that losing a member and changing our topic happened sooner rather than later. I can’t imagine how unbelievably difficult it would have been to rearranged our topic and reconstruct our overall thesis in the middle of research or near the end of the project. So, as we move on in our Silk Road journey, I look forward to encountering some interesting pieces of information and working more closely with my team. We are one dedicated group. We will not give up yes, and we are victorious. Peace family.

Sadly, Team Sky lost one. In an instance our entire project changed. Our topic and overall analysis of a specific society on the Silk Road needed revising. Unfortunately, our discussion about education regarding women in a distinct city on the Silk Road want be covered. The remaining topics are still very good interests to research but , combining them in cohesive way is the hard part. So, what do you do when the plan goes awry?  My research was stalled slightly,  but at the same time I was well engaged into studying the geography of the region. During our reconstruction period I explored several different cities while we worked out the kinks of our project . Our map test gave me the opportunity to understand exactly what I was dealing with.  Pinpointing areas in the Tarim Basin was very interesting. While I was studying I began to realized just  how phenomenal it was for a man up in age like Xuan Zang  to  have traveled through parts of this land.
Xuan Zang’s  story is amazing and I’ll admit it inspired me. Quite frankly, his story gave me an extra push. Although we are minus one person and topic our project still has potential.  Currently, we are in the middle reconstruction our ideas. As we work together to put  things into place, I constantly think about Xuan Zang. I think about him crossing through desert and mountainous terrains. I think about his journey and his challenges. What it must’ve been like I wonder?      In this moment of clarity I always come to  realize that we can do this -minus one.
 

Lets discuss methodology. We all have a certain way of doing things. As for me, when it comes to doing research projects and presentations, I tend to work backwards.  By that I mean,  typically I  visualize the final result of the project first, then build on the ideas in my head. With the digital silk road project, I’ve already completed the project in my head, but the fundamentals are not coming together.  For my group, pinpointing a location to research is much harder than we expected. Determining which era to closely examine is even harder. I did not foresee these challenges.  Our group has considered researching groups of people near the Arabian Sea.  Presently this land is designated to Iran, Saudi Arabia and parts of Afghanistan .  The scope of the Silk Road is so broad that one can find his or herself overwhelmed by the various societies, cultures, religions and so forth.  Gathering information is vital for Team Sky at this point. My method for gathering information consists of scouring through academic sources (print books, eBooks, journal articles etc.)  related to beauty and body images for Muslim women.  I started with Guilford’s library database. I searched for topics related to beauty and body images for Muslim women in addition to the perception of beauty in Islam. I searched for a variety subjects like: “Islamic feminism”, ” beauty in Arabia”, and the “history of women’s bodies” just to get a feel for what kind of information was out there. Now, even though there were plenty of sources for my topic, again I found the task I narrowing the subject down to a specific group of Muslim women very challenging. I read a few summaries that were interesting and I kept record of the ones relevant to my topic. Right now, I am in the beginning stages of  exploring  Persian art and literature. My intention is to make connections between the idea of beauty in Islam, specifically in locations near the Arabian Sea, and the influence the Silk Road had on those perceptions of beauty. The  articles I have read  are very engaging. In addition to the books and articles,  art that is associated with the women and Islam is very interesting. Now, the task will be tying all these wonderful things together with the Silk Road.
Methodology is super important with this project.  The organization of this entire process will either make us or break us. Managing our time,  compiling our evidence, presenting our findings and arranging our story map must be on our top priority list. Even though deciding on a location and time period  supersedes all these things, Team Sky needs to come to solid consensus on these issues very soon. Am I worried? Not at all. We each have our own way of doing things. I am confident that my team members are busy digging for sources and information.  I’m quite sure they find the task of focusing on a particular  society on or near the Silk Road just a difficult as I do, but as a team we will prevail. So far, the information that Ive encounter is  relevant but solidifying one particular society is hard.
While finding a particular society to focus on is a task, on the other hand our class readings have been very helpful. The readings are long, but at the same time they contain vital names and dates of societies that thrived on the Silk Road. The reading, Periplus of the Erythraean Sea revealed the  names of some historical Persian societies that thrived on maritime Silk Road. It described the flourishing trade of  frankincense  through the Arabian peninsula and further into India. Even though the article did not talk about beauty and body images directly, I was able to get a sense of the culture on the Arabian peninsula and the maritime routes impact on the culture.  
So, as I close, I look forward to putting more pieces of together and making more connections between beauty and body images as it pertains to the Silk Road. In the near future I anticipate more correspondence with my Team about their methods and their individual findings. I embrace my Teams unique ability to get things done so, I hope the task of choosing a society and a time period is not to overwhelming.  If we find that it is too overwhelming, I hope that we can discuss our issues and try to resolve them together. I have a great feeling about our process and an even more better feeling about the outcome of our Silk Road project.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty.” [Sahīh Muslim (911)]
Every culture has its own definition of what beauty is and thanks to patriarchy and its hegemonic nature, society has always allotted this category to women. Don’t be fooled, men are beautiful too. However, the explorations of a man’s body are recognized as scientific, while a woman’s body is perceived more like a sensual part of nature. It is our bodies that people look to for the outlining of what is to be desired in a society. The woman’s body has been the epitome of what constitutes ‘attractiveness’. As I stated in the opening sentence, every culture has its own definition of which expressions of beauty and body images are acceptable. For example, westerners applaud a woman’s slim physique whereas in countries like South Africa a woman’s heftiness is celebrated. Beauty and body images are not unitary and because of this flexibility there a varying degrees of what one may define as ‘beautiful’. Those ideas and images pertaining to women, particularly Muslim women situated near the Arabian Sea, will be the focus of my research for Team Sky’s digital Silk Road project. The Silk Route was a vital part of the trade between early societies that stretched from North Africa to East China. Not only were tangible goods merchandised, but ideas concerning a woman’s body and body images were also exchanged on the Silk Road. Back in the day, Islam was the top religion of this region. Today, this is still the case. So, based on modern findings covering the Silk Road, what is the overall consensus of Muslim women’s bodies? What contributions has the Silk Road made towards these ideas of beauty and body image? How has fashion and the obsession of obtaining quality silk garments perpetuated these ideas? And above all, what are the intersections of beauty, body image, status, love, sex and marriage among the women of this area? My examination of these areas will attempt to answer these questions and make connections between the Silk Road and its influence on the lives of Muslim women located in areas near the Arabian Sea.
Initially, my research was to investigate to classification of race and the term Afro-Eurasian and its intersection on beauty and body image. Now, my focus will be aimed at the beauty and body images for Muslim women in areas near the Arabian Sea with access to the southern Silk Road. Since my team’s project is solely focused on a modern account, and the majority of the information that I found pertaining to race was mostly historical, I decided to concentrate on the contemporary study of bodies and body images of Muslim women along the Silk Road. The process for discerning this topic will consist of research of the countries near the Arabian Sea with access to the southern Silk Road. Because the Silk Road (north and south) covers so much land mass, only a condensing of one area is necessary for my project. Digital mapping tools will be the primary tool in locating societies within this region. I plan to electronically pinpoint these areas on a digital map and upload data concerning Muslim women’s bodies and body images for the locations. While another member of Team Sky examines the religious side of women in this area, my research will detail the secular side of Muslim women’s bodies and explore their connection to the Silk Road. Another key part of the process is obtaining modern resources about Islamic feminism. Will this be a problem? I predict that this will not be a challenge. Today, there is an abundance of scholars, journalists, authors and activists that document advocacy for Muslim women’s rights. I question the cultural exchange of ideas mediated through the Silk Road for these rights and how these concepts are expressed through women’s clothing, make-up, hairstyles and so forth. Along with using digital tools, books, and journal articles (via Guilford’s Hege Library database), I will assemble information that pertains the lives of women on the Silk Road, specifically the southern route. Books regarding the norms and values of Muslim women, feminism in Islam, and even modern day fashion trends will be valuable to the research for this project. In addition to those topics, a closer look at the Silk Road’s marketplace for fine linen clothing will suffice for this part. Another very important aspect of my research process will be an exploration of the Holy Qur’an. In this book the conditions of love, sex and marriage will provide an inside look at the moral code designated for Muslim women. Furthermore, how does this moral law appeal to an identified Muslim woman living a secular lifestyle on the Silk Road? The key factor to my methodology will be a concise articulation and organization of all the research findings.
If you don’t know who Team Sky is let me take time to introduce them to the audience. Our Team Mentor is Sydney Brown. Her position will help gather ideas, guide and support the team as it moves along with the research. So far, Sydney has provided valuable ideas and insight towards the team’s project. The Recorder/Innovator will be overseen by Jamie Skjoldager. The recorder will memo (digitally or otherwise) notes taken from discussions our group’s research. Since the formation of teams, Jamie has brainstormed, documented each group member’s contact information and submitted the group’s proposal. The title of Timekeeper/Checker belongs to Nathan Grannan. This position will ensure that deadlines, meetings and other group responsibilities are kept in a timely manner. At the present time Nathan is assembling calendar dates and times for meetings. Team Sky’s Facilitator/Harmonizer will be maintained by Elise Tangedal. This position will organize group meetings and ensure the stability of our group if conflict may arise. Elise is equipped with a positive attitude that will surely be an asset moving forward with our digital project. Finally, the position of the Presenter/Runner will be fulfilled by myself, Tieji Williams. The presenter will act as a reporter for the group correspond with the class and the instructors. The presenter will give the final presentation of the research findings and conclusions for the project. Thus far, only the announcement of Team Sky’s thesis statement was presented. However, I look forward to presenting my instructors and classmates with valuable information regarding a modern look at women in Islam through the lenses of gender, beauty, health and education along the coast of the Arabian Sea with access to the Silk Road.
Typically, when I work with groups I don’t mind taking the leadership role in ensuring that things get done in an efficient and timely manner. What can I say, Guilford has taught me well. When it comes to group work I tend to do a lot of quarterbacking in hopes my teammates will catch or run the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. (Excuse the football analogy, but football season is upon us) This was my purpose for typing a full rough draft of the proposal and presenting to my team in class before its due date. I did this to alleviate a last minute rush to complete the assignment. I handed the proposal off to my teammates and they edited, arranged, polished and submitted the final draft. This a wonderful example of teamwork. As we move forward with our project, my intention is to keep a positive attitude about the research, my teammates and the overall outcome of our work on the digital Silk Road project.