Secularity Law, France

Popularly dubbed l'affaire du foulard, this debate highlights the gray areas that often arise when cultural and religious practices cross national borders. The French headscarf debate tests the limits of national tolerance for “difference” by raising salient questions about how nation-states should manage the transnational flow of cultural and religious practices. In particular, it registers the cultural and political discord-and mainstream resistance-triggered by the “integration” of minority populations within the national body politic. It also highlights the female body as a particularly contested site of national belonging and state regulation.

Separation of Church and State

Transcript

• In France, it’s a rare sight, but lately the full Islamic veil or niqab has been the subject of fierce debate. On Tuesday a parliamentary committee issued a report calling for ...