Bans on Muslim facial veiling in Europe and Canada: a cultural history of vision perspective

Precarious bodies: The securitization of the “veiled” woman in European human rights

“…The veiled Muslim woman is excluded from human rights because she recalls the nomadic culture of Muslims and their loyalty to the global ummah over and above loyalty to the state. State surveillance and disciplinary tactics exercised on the bodies of its citizens, particularly those perceived as resistant to modernist ideology, are called to mind when veiled women become embroiled in the state's struggle for power over bodies (Behiery, 2013). Human rights' protection is, therefore, based on a secular idea of womanhood and the undressed woman as a symbol of freedom and public safety.…”

“…The Court's acceptance of governmental arguments in favor of the ban meant it endorsed the state's increasing intrusion into people's private lives (Baldi, 2018, p. 685). The mobilization of the ECtHR against covered women is an extension of state surveillance and disciplinary tactics exercised on the bodies of national citizens considered resistant to modernist ideology (Motha, 2007) thereby strengthening the state's control over their bodies and rendering them passive state subjects (Behiery, 2013).…”

Visibility, transparency and gossip: How did the religion of some (Muslims) become the public concern of others?

“…The dichotomies this produces include Orient versus Occident, rational versus irrational, modern versus traditional. All are reinforced by these dominant cultural narratives (Alcoff, 2001; Behiery, 2013) and thereby restrict access to other possible categories that might describe the world and its people more particularistically—more multifariously (Boëtsch and Ferrié, 2001). 11 Mahmood develops a parallel line of thinking, based on an analysis of the controversies over the Danish cartoons, which hinges on the fact that “secular” spaces often find themselves caught at a moral impasse due to the incapacity to understand the concept of religious “insult.” 12 This impasse, she says, is explained by a paradigmatic political polarization resulting from the conflict between “the secular imperative and the religious menace” (Mahmood, 2009: 65).…”

A Short History of the (Muslim) Veil

“…In a reversal of roles, she thwarts the "scopic regime of modernity" and its "desire to master, control and reshape the body of subjects by making them visible" (Yeğenoğlu 1998, 12). 9 Because modernity associates vision and knowledge, the figure of the veiled woman challenges the epistemological role granted to sight (Behiery 2013). If the veil is construed as a barrier to the onlooker's desire, it also constitutes a site upon which desire may be inscribed.…”

“…Ideally, the criteria adopted, like those for human rights should be universal" (25). 13 The point is that the veil is not just a garment but a symbolic field and an object tied to the very heart of Western self-identity (Behiery 2013).…”