Citoyens, piété et démocratie. Réflexions sur l’occultation des corps croyants, l’intimité et le droit au secret

Abstract

This article is based on ongoing fieldwork conducted in France and Quebec with Muslim women who stopped wearing a headscarf. It offers a puzzle for reflection: what is achieved when a sign of religious affiliation disappears (in this instance, wearing a headscarf)? The first part of the article describes the general framework in which public conversations about the visible piety expressed by Muslim women has been discussed in public spaces. The second part looks at the double bind in which Muslim women have been placed by being asked, on the one hand, to be as discrete as possible when expressing their religiosity and, on the other, to behave in full transparency. How and under which conditions can these women ‘find a place’ in the public space (Joseph, 1995) of secular societies? To conclude, the article invites reflection on the role of secrecy, the impossibility as well as the necessity of the secret in society in order to be able to consider the proper room available for pious female citizens in democratic secular societies.

The State of Emergency at Home

“…In this context, the intimate refers to a social construct depending on the ability to control and choose what to hide from the gaze of others (Amiraux 2018;Th alineau 2002). Th e intimate "is undone when the other steals it.…”

“…Such behavior illustrates a desire for invisibility. It betrays a diffi culty to control the other's gaze (Amiraux 2018;Th alineau 2002) and consequently his public intimacy (Laé and Proth 2002). Compared to lots of citizens who feel protected by preventive architectural devices and military, Paris here constitutes an emotional landscape (Laketa 2016: 665), which is related to anxiety and surveillance from others.…”

Sexualidad y religión en la esfera pública. Opiniones de estudiantes franceses sobre la mediatización de la esfera íntima

“…Studies distinguish two types of participation in the construction of mediatized public opinion: a) active participation -activist, engaged, propagandist one (Hubbard, 2001;Amiraux, 2018) and b) passive participation consisting of affective non-activist positioning -more or less cyclical -of the possible circumstantial choice in relation to convictions, values, judgments, prejudices and personal beliefs (Gefen, Ragowsky & Ridings, 2008;Ergler, 2011). The present research falls within the scope of the second type of participation.…”

“…Sexuality and religion are two identity spaces, both individual and collective, that designate private or even intimate places (Giddens, 1992;Amiraux, 2018). The consensus of researchers is widely effective from this perspective despite the diversity of their theoretical and methodological approaches.…”

L’appartenance catholique des femmes au Québec: Pour une approche genrée du rapport à la religion

“…C’est particulièrement à travers le rapport complexe entre le maintien d’une appartenance religieuse minorisée et souvent visible, et d’une identité citoyenne construite comme incompatible avec la religion que l’expérience des femmes est explorée. Amiraux (2018) aborde par exemple la religiosité des femmes musulmanes comme des « manifestations, irruptions dans un scénario du débat public, comme prétextes à la réflexion plutôt que comme objets centraux de l'analyse » (2018 : 170). Cette approche lui permet d’explorer l’occupation de l’espace public à travers l’expérience de l’invisibilisation de la piété qui résulte de l’abandon du voile islamique.…”