Politics, Religion and Gender : Framing and Regulating the Veil

ISBN-13: 9780415561488 / Angielski / Twarda / 2011 / 264 str.

Sieglinde Rosenberger;Birgit Sauer

Opis

Heated debates about Muslim women's veiling practices have attracted the attention of European policymakers over the last decade. The headscarf has been both vehemently contested by national and/or regional governments, political parties and public intellectuals and passionately defended by veil wearing women and their supporters. Systematically applying a comparative perspective, this book addresses the basic question: why does the headscarf tantalise and cause such controversy over issues about religious pluralism, secularism, neutrality of the state, gender oppression, citizenship, migration, and multiculturalism. And as a consequence, why has it become part of the disciplinary practices of some European countries but not of others?

While the need for a collection of interpretative research essays regarding the current debates on the veil in Europe has become evident for quite some time, the possibility of bringing together high quality analysis depended on the existence of a body of critical research focusing on the broad issues associated with the Muslim veil debates. This opportunity was given to the FP6-project "Values, Equality and Differences in Liberal Democracies: Debates about Muslim Headscarves in Europe (VEIL)". In this unique collection the theoretical and empirical research results of the project are presented and evaluated, offering an interdisciplinary scope and European-wide setting.

The book can be seen as comprising of two main parts: Part I will put the focus on the identification of (conflicting) fundamental rights, moral values and political principles addressed in the headscarf debates by the main actors on national and European level Part II contains research results, which aim at contributing to explain the differences and similarities in regulating and legislation with regard to Muslim headscarves in the countries investigated.

Utilizing a comparative perspective this work focuses on the different religious, political and cultural meanings of the veiling issue across European countries and on the comparative explanation of veiling regimes in European countries.

Spis treści

Framing and Regulating the Veil: An Introduction Sieglinde Rosenberger and Birgit Sauer  Part 1: Frames and Framing  1. Veiled Debates: Gender and Gender Equality in European National Narratives Rikke Andreassen and Doutje Lettinga  2. Thinking through Secularism: Debates on the Muslim Veil in Europe Eirini Avramopoulou, Gül Çorbacioğlu and Maria Eleonora Sanna  3. Negotiating Belonging: Or How a Differentiated Citizenship is Legitimized in European Headscarf Debates Nora Gresch, Petra Rostock and Sevgi Kiliç  4. Discursive Europeanization? Negotiating Europe in Headscarf Debates Ilker Ataç, Sieglinde Rosenberger and Birgit Sauer  Part 2: Regulations and Actors  5. Legal Regulations: Responses to the Muslim Headscarf in Europe Sabine Berghahn  6. Regulating Religious Symbols in Public Schools: The Legal Status of the Islamic Headscarf in Bulgaria Kristen Ghodsee  7. The Limits of Populism: Accommodative Headscarf Policies in Austria, Denmark, and the Netherlands Leila Hadj-Abdou, Sieglinde Rosenberger, Sawitri Saharso and Birte Siim  8. In the Name of Laïcité and Neutrality: Prohibitive Regulations of the Veil in France, Germany, and Turkey Sabine Berghahn, Gül Çorbacioğlu, Petra Rostock and Maria Eleonora Sanna  9. Non-Regulation: Opportunity for Freedom of Religion or Sedimentation of Existing Power Structures?  Rikke Andreassen, Eirini Avramopoulou, Nora Gresch, Sevgi Kiliç and Birgit Sauer  10. Muslim Women’s Participation in the Veil Controversy: Austria and the UK Compared Leila Hadj-Abdou and Linda Woodhead.  Conclusion: The Veil as a Case of Value Diversity and European Values Sawitri Saharso

O autorze

Sieglinde Rosenberger is Professor of Political Science at the University of Vienna, Austria.Her research interests focuse on the governance of religious pluralism, migration and integration, identities and gender relations. Birgit Sauer is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, University of Vienna, Austria.Her research fields include democracy and difference, critical governance studies, gender in political institution, state theory, gender and globalization, comparative gender policies.