1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910817544803321

Autore

Bowen John Richard <1951->

Titolo

Why the French don't like headscarves : Islam, the State, and public space / / John R. Bowen

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Princeton, : Princeton University Press, c2007

ISBN

1-282-96471-2

9786612964718

1-4008-3756-1

Edizione

[Course Book]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (302 pages)

Classificazione

BE 8660

Disciplina

391.4/30944

Soggetti

Hijab (Islamic clothing) - France

Veils - Social aspects - France

Muslim women - Clothing - France

Clothing and dress - Religious aspects - Islam

Clothing and dress - Political aspects - France

Islam and secularism - France

France Race relations

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

State and religion in the long run -- Remembering laïcité -- Regulating Islam -- Publicity and politics, 1989-2005 -- Scarves and schools -- Moving toward a law -- Repercussions -- Philosophy, media, anxiety -- Communalism -- Islamism -- Sexism -- Conclusions.

Sommario/riassunto

The French government's 2004 decision to ban Islamic headscarves and other religious signs from public schools puzzled many observers, both because it seemed to infringe needlessly on religious freedom, and because it was hailed by many in France as an answer to a surprisingly wide range of social ills, from violence against females in poor suburbs to anti-Semitism. Why the French Don't Like Headscarves explains why headscarves on schoolgirls caused such a furor, and why the furor yielded this law. Making sense of the dramatic debate from his perspective as an American anthropologist in France at the time, John Bowen writes about everyday life and public events while also



presenting interviews with officials and intellectuals, and analyzing French television programs and other media. Bowen argues that the focus on headscarves came from a century-old sensitivity to the public presence of religion in schools, feared links between public expressions of Islamic identity and radical Islam, and a media-driven frenzy that built support for a headscarf ban during 2003-2004. Although the defense of laïcité (secularity) was cited as the law's major justification, politicians, intellectuals, and the media linked the scarves to more concrete social anxieties--about "communalism," political Islam, and violence toward women. Written in engaging, jargon-free prose, Why the French Don't Like Headscarves is the first comprehensive and objective analysis of this subject, in any language, and it speaks to tensions between assimilation and diversity that extend well beyond France's borders.