Ugur Ümit Üngör on wearing a beard as a Dutch Muslim

Dr Ugur Ümit Üngör (International and Political History) wrote an article for Caf'ébabel, an online platform based in the United Kingdom, on the effects of his new beard on his social experiences. Üngor, presenting the piece as a kind of light form of investigative journalism, shows that while hipster-beards may be a familiar sight in the Netherlands, the beard has an altogether different effect when worn by Muslim men.

Üngor found that upon growing a beard, he was often treated differently, and especially negatively so in the Netherlands. In the street, people no longer smiled as openly at him, the amount of small talk suddenly diminished, and even during rush hour the seat next to him on the bus was avoided by fellow passengers. Even in the university setting the responses to his beard were loaded by assumptions and negative associations: people saw his beard as 'creepy' or started questioning him about his religion, and about the meaning of the beard as a political statement. In other countries the response to Üngor's look were different. In the United Kingdom and the United States the response was minimal while in Istanbul Üngor found that he was treated with more respect because of his new beard.