大西洋月刊：穆斯林女性如何使用时尚发挥政治影响力?

I have been researching Muslim women’s fashion since 2004. My comparative investigation has taken me to three locations: Tehran, Iran; Yogyakarta, Indonesia; and Istanbul, Turkey. While there have been studies of Muslim women’s clothing in many individual countries, there are few cross-cultural and transnational comparisons.

译文：

从2004年开始，我就一直在研究穆斯林女性的时尚。我的比较研究已带我到3个地方：伊朗的德黑兰；印度尼西亚的日惹；土耳其的伊斯坦布尔。虽然许多独特的国家一直研究穆斯林女性的服装研究，但是这些国家缺少一些跨文化和跨国比较研究。

解析：

这里的have been researching表示从过去某个时间开始到现在一直在研究，是现在完成时用法。比如：I have been learning English since 2015. 从2015年开始，我一直在学习英语。

comparative investigation表示比较研究。比较文学叫comparative literature。

individual表示独特的。在词典里是an individual style, way of doing things etc is different from anyone else’s.比如：a very individual way of dressing.

As I undertook such a comparison over the next dozen years, I found surprise, pleasure, and delight in pious fashion. My conversations about modest clothing with women around the world also challenged those neat intellectual boxes to which I had grown overly accustomed in the United States.

译文：

最近十几年进行了这样的比较研究，我从庄重的时尚中发现了惊喜、愉悦和快乐。我和全世界女性端庄的服装会话也挑战那些整洁的知识框，我已经太习惯美国知识结构。

解析：

这里的next是指Nearest in space or position，即是在空间或者位置最近的。而不是我们通常认为的“下一个”意思。

Each of the three Muslim-majority, non-Arab countries where I conducted my ethnographic research has its own history of regulating women’s clothing through official dress codes. These regulations reflect the idea that women’s modest clothing is a sign of something else—whether a “bad” sign that Muslim women need saving or a “good” sign of the honor and moral health of an entire nation.

译文：

我在这三个主要穆斯林非阿拉伯国家分别进行了人种学研究，每一个国家（each of）都有规范女性正式着装的历史。这些规范反映这样一个思想，即女性端庄的着装是一个标志—一个“坏的”标志是表示穆斯林妇女需要拯救，还是一个“好的”标志是表示整个国家的荣誉和道德健康。

解析：

each of也就是each (one) of 每一个人或者物，这里有one可以省略。

ethnographic是指人种学。

whether…or指是……还是

For much of the last 100 years, battles over these signs have been instigated by male elites to further political agendas that have had little to do with improving the lives of actual women.

译文：

在过去的100年里，这些标志的争论一直由男性精英促成，并深入为政治议程，这对改善女性的真实生活几乎没有帮助。

解析：

battles表示多次争论，也表示战斗、交战，比如：running battles游击战。

instigate指激起，促成，to make a process start, especially on relating to law or politics. 比如： Charles instigated a programme of reforms.

感谢阅读！