Islamic Veiling
What light can social and political theory throw on opposition to Muslim female full-face covering—wearing of the burqua and niqab—in European societies? Many explain hostility to the full veil as evidence of confused thinking, prejudice and, specifically, the fear and loathing of Muslims that goes by the name Islamophobia. Had 9/11 and other terror acts perpetrated by Muslims never occurred, they say, hostility to Islamic garb would be an obsession of the few. Immigration, in a period of deepening economic austerity, intensifies discrimination. These accounts have merit. They recognize that bigotry is a recurrent feature of the human condition. They also imply a principled stand against intolerance. Yet, as sociological explanations, they are inadequate and certainly incomplete. Exploring pertinent coordinates of Western citizenship and social solidarity, this research offers a different explanation to those most current. Western discomfiture towards full-face covering is culturally explicable; it expresses the symbolic importance of the face to Western notions of politics and the face’s centrality to social interaction. Occlusion of face and the segmentation of bodily presence, typical of women in tribal societies, conflict with Western ideas of universal reciprocity and social solidarity. It is this divergence, rather than Islamophobia, that provides the most cogent framework to understand public attitudes to the burqa and niqab in European countries.
For a particularly vivid example of burqa politics, the research focuses on the French and Belgian cases. It underscores the role of social thinkers in legitimizing bans on the full veil. Ironically, this role has been largely ignored, or deflected, by Anglophone social commentators and theorists who write on the veil, and who often oppose its prohibition. The research suggests that Europe tends to be more repressive toward full veils because its political process is more open to multiple theoretical representations of the phenomenon of veiling. Conversely, the U.S. is more open to the provocative display of religious symbols in public because the political process is pre-structured by legal conventions that tend to filter out social theory. The push to ban the burqa in France principally derives from its brand of republicanism rather than being a product of racism and Islamophobia. Of particular significance in the French case is the emphasis on reciprocity as a political principle, a principle that is elongated into an ideal of democratic sociability by social theorists. The arguments of these theorists are described, their rationale is explained, and the impact of their intervention on the policy process is documented. The French case, where the popular press and legislature play a major role in shaping policy towards the burqa, is contrasted with that of the United States, where the judiciary, defending religious freedom, remains the most influential collective actor. Each country has correspondingly different attitudes to democracy. In France, the mission of democracy is to extend political equality to the social realm whereas in the United States it is religion that is prioritized so as to protect that which is deemed most sacred to the individual.
References:
For a particularly vivid example of burqa politics, the research focuses on the French and Belgian cases. It underscores the role of social thinkers in legitimizing bans on the full veil. Ironically, this role has been largely ignored, or deflected, by Anglophone social commentators and theorists who write on the veil, and who often oppose its prohibition. The research suggests that Europe tends to be more repressive toward full veils because its political process is more open to multiple theoretical representations of the phenomenon of veiling. Conversely, the U.S. is more open to the provocative display of religious symbols in public because the political process is pre-structured by legal conventions that tend to filter out social theory. The push to ban the burqa in France principally derives from its brand of republicanism rather than being a product of racism and Islamophobia. Of particular significance in the French case is the emphasis on reciprocity as a political principle, a principle that is elongated into an ideal of democratic sociability by social theorists. The arguments of these theorists are described, their rationale is explained, and the impact of their intervention on the policy process is documented. The French case, where the popular press and legislature play a major role in shaping policy towards the burqa, is contrasted with that of the United States, where the judiciary, defending religious freedom, remains the most influential collective actor. Each country has correspondingly different attitudes to democracy. In France, the mission of democracy is to extend political equality to the social realm whereas in the United States it is religion that is prioritized so as to protect that which is deemed most sacred to the individual.
References:
- "From Secularism to Reciprocity: Banning the Veil in France and Beyond," e-International Relations, (co-author Daniel Gordon), September 16, 2013, http://www.e-ir.info/2013/09/16/from-secularism-to-reciprocity-banning-the-veil-in-france-and-beyond/
- From the Headscarf to the Burqa: The Role of Social Theorists in Shaping Laws Against the Veil" (with Daniel Gordon),Economy and Society, 42 (2) 2013, pp.249 - 280.
- "On the Edge of Solidarity. The Burqa and Public Life" (with Daniel Gordon) Society 49 (5) 2012, pp. 457 - 467.