Jhumpa Lahiri declines Noguchi Museum Award over ban on Kaffiyehs

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian American fiction writer Jhumpa Lahiri has declined to accept an award from the Noguchi Museum in Queens, New York, next month in disapproval of its new ban on kaffiyehs, the Palestinian head dress.

Three museum employees were fired for wearing kaffiyehs — described as political dress — to signal solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the New York Times first reported.

“Jhumpa Lahiri has chosen to withdraw her acceptance of the 2024 Isamu Noguchi Award in response to our updated dress code policy,” according to a statement emailed by the museum to the newspaper on Wednesday.

READ: Jhumpa Lahiri among 0 Indian Americans elected to American Academy of Arts (May 3, 2024)

“We respect her perspective and understand that this policy may or may not align with everyone’s views,” the statement said of Lahiri. “We remain committed to our core mission of advancing the understanding and appreciation of Isamu Noguchi’s art and legacy while upholding our values of inclusivity and openness.”

The museum, founded nearly 40 years ago by Noguchi, a Japanese American designer and sculptor, announced last month that during their working hours employees could not wear clothing or accessories that expressed “political messages, slogans or symbols.”

The policy, which does not apply to visitors, was instituted after several staff members had, over a period of months, often worn kaffiyehs — scarves associated with Palestinians — for what one fired employee cited by the Times termed “cultural reasons.”

READ: Jhumpa Lahiri’s “In Other Words” is a hauntingly tender, beautiful read (February 24, 2016)

The museum defended the prohibition earlier this month, saying in a statement that “such expressions can unintentionally alienate segments of our diverse visitorship.” A significant majority of staffers signed a petition opposing the rule.

Lahiri and Lee Ufan, a Korean-born minimalist painter, sculptor and poet, were to have received the Isamu Noguchi Award at the museum’s fall benefit gala next month.

Lahiri, who was born in London, won the 2000 Pulitzer for fiction for her debut, the story collection “Interpreter of Maladies,” and has since published several books of fiction and nonfiction in both English and Italian. She is also the director of the creative writing program at Barnard College.

Through her literary agent, Lahiri declined to comment, the Times said.

Lahiri was one of thousands of scholars who signed a letter to university presidents in May expressing solidarity with campus protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling it “unspeakable destruction.”

Across the world, protesters demanding an end to Israel’s war in Gaza have worn the black-and-white keffiyeh head scarf, a symbol of Palestinian self-determination

The museum’s budget is supported by royalties from furniture and lighting designs by Noguchi, who died in 1988. The staff petition alludes to his voluntary internment in an Arizona detention camp for Japanese Americans during World War II in an effort to improve conditions there, according to the Times.

Other people in the United States have also lost their jobs due to their stance on the Israel-Gaza war.

A New York City hospital fired a Palestinian American nurse in May after she called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide” during an acceptance speech for an award. Israel denies genocide charges brought by South Africa at the World Court.