Scott, Joan Wallach. The Politics of the Veil.

PositionBook review

Scott, Joan Wallach. The Politics of the Veil. Princeton, N J: Princeton University Press, 2007, 208 pages. Hardcover $ 24.96.

Joan Wallach Scott's book refutes the view that the 2004 ban on wearing "conspicuous signs" of religious affiliations in public schools in France was to uphold France's liberal secular values and that the headscarf is a symbol of Islam's resistance to modernity. She argues that the ban is symptomatic of France's failure to integrate its former colonial subjects as full citizens. Her book attempts to uncover the long history of racism behind the 2004 ban. It also exposes the constant creation of the so-called "clash of civilization."

How is it that banning headscarves represents modernization? Supporters of the ban say different things and view sexual openness as the standard and sexual modesty implicit in the headscarf as a proof that Muslims can never become fully French. They go far as saying the veil is the ultimate symbol of Islam's resistance to modernity, an emblem of radical Islamist politics, and a symbol of the clash of cultures. It represents a threat of Islamic separatism.

She contends that a number of studies argue convincingly that the Islamic headscarf is a modern, not...

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