Symbol of Palestinian solidarity: Jhumpa Lahiri’s award rejected in protest of scarf ban

Last Updated on September 28, 2024 10:23 am

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri recently drew widespread praise on social media for turning down an award from a New York City museum.

The Indian-origin author declined to accept the 2024 Isamu Noguchi Prize. Because this museum in the United States fired its employees for wearing a keffiyeh.

Incidentally, the keffiyeh is a black-and-white check scarf, known as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity.

Recently, Jhumpa Lahiri was scheduled to receive the prestigious Isamu Noguchi Museum award. It is given as a tribute to the creativity and innovation of Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.

However, museum authorities said in a statement on Wednesday, ‘Jhumpa Lahiri has decided not to accept the 2024 Isamu Noguchi Award in response to our updated dress policy. We respect his opinion and understand that this policy may not align with everyone’s views.

Earlier, last August, the museum fired three employees and announced that they would not be allowed to wear any political symbols or messages during office hours.

Readers and pro-Palestinian activists praised Lahiri for his moral stance in this regard. Many have termed his bold move as ‘moral’ and ‘morally correct’. Appreciating Lahiri’s work on social media, many are promoting his books further.

Some have put it this way, ‘If Isamu Noguchi were alive, he would have stood up for wearing the keffiyeh and protested against the museum’s policy’.

Born in London, Jhumpa Lahiri was the daughter of an Indian immigrant couple and immigrated to the United States at the age of three. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for his first collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies. He has since published several books in English and Italian, and currently serves as director of the creative writing program at Barnard College, Columbia.

Barnard College also came under fire recently, when they deleted a post from Instagram. where a student showed the cover of an issue of the Arab Lit Quarterly magazine, which featured a picture of flowers blooming over a map of Palestine.

The keffiyeh has become a symbol of Palestinian independence and solidarity with the people of Gaza. Today, many protesters wear it to demand Palestinian independence and take a stand against Israel. Source: Middle East Eye