Table Of ContentRefashioning Secularisms in France
and Turkey
Over the past few years, secularism has become an intrinsic component of
discussions on religious freedom and religious governance. The question of
whether states should restrict the wearing of headscarves and other religious
symbols has been particularly critical in guiding this thought process.
Refashioning Secularisms in France and Turkey documents how, in both
countries, devout women have contested bans on headscarves, pointing to
how these are inconsistent with the ‘real’spirit of secularism. These activists
argue that it is possible to be simultaneously secular and religious; to believe
in the values conveyed by secularism, while still remaining devoted to their
faith.Throughthisexamination,thebookhighlightshowactivistslocatetheir
claims within the frame of secularism, while at the same time revisiting it to
craft a space for their religiosity.
Addressing the lacuna in literature on the discourse of devout Muslims
affected by these restrictions, this book offers a topical analysis on an under-
studied dimension of secularism and is a valuable resource for students and
researchers with an interest in Religion, Gender Studies, Human Rights and
Political Science.
Amélie Barras is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Montreal with
the Chair Religion, Culture and Society and the Canadian Religion and
Diversity Project. Her research interest is in religion and politics, with a spe-
cial focus in gender, law and Islam. She has published articles on these topics
in Democratization, Journal of Human Rights and in Mediterranean Politics.
Routledge Islamic Studies Series
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Refashioning Secularisms in
France and Turkey
The Case of the Headscarf Ban
Amélie Barras
RO Routledge
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TLED Taylor & Francis Group
G
E
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RefashioningsecularismsinFranceandTurkey:thecaseoftheheadscarf
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pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Hijab(Islamicclothing)--Lawandlegislation--France.2.Hijab(Islamic
clothing)--Lawandlegislation--Turkey.3.Muslimwomen--Legalstatus,
laws,etc.--France.4.Muslimwomen--Legalstatus,laws,etc.--Turkey.
5.Freedomofreligion--France.6.Freedomofreligion--Turkey.
7.Laicism--France.8.Laicism--Turkey.I.Title.
KJC5156.B372014
342.4408’52975674--dc23
2013045853
ISBN:978-0-415-82178-0(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-77523-4(ebk)
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Abbreviations xi
1 Introduction: the hegemony of secularism, gender
and space 1
Locating refashioning secularisms 3
On methods and ethics 10
Summing up the argument and outlining the
structure of the book 16
Notes 18
2 A tradition of regulations: shedding light on the
paradoxes of the languages of secularism 21
Paradoxes of the languages of laïcité and laiklik 22
Conclusion 36
Notes 38
3 The slow exclusion of pious women from French and
Turkish societies: (re)producing spaces 43
The exclusion of pious Muslim women and
the making of spaces 44
‘Making room’ for public spaces 45
Conclusion 62
Notes 63
4 French Muslim activists: promoting a laïcité ante 69
A short overview 70
The March 2004 Law and the extensions of
exclusions: sketching an argument 76
Conclusion 88
Notes 90
vi Contents
5 Turkish devout activists: reconfiguring laiklik
with human rights 94
Setting the context: a discursive shift 95
Religious rights activists: a window into understanding
how laiklik can be refashioned 98
Conclusion 112
Notes 114
6 A rights-based discourse: a door to multiple
sites of challenges 118
Litigation at the national level: the work of French activists 119
Access to international sites 122
Conclusion 135
Notes 136
Conclusion: an invitation to transcend the secular/religious divide 140
Unwinding the argument 141
Evaluating the success of this (re)articulation 146
Notes 151
Bibliography 152
Index 165
Acknowledgements
IrememberreadingthroughtheacknowledgementsIhadrushedtowritebefore
sending my PhD thesis to my committee a few years ago and realising, to
mygreat dismay, that I had forgotten to thank many people. Since this book
is a revised version of my PhD, it is almost as if I now have a second chance
‘not to forget anyone’. But this seems to be, in itself, a herculean task as
writing this book has been a process, a journey, influenced of course by
friends, colleagues and family who I have known all my life or met along
the way, but also by improbable encounters and fragments of conversations
on boats, in cafes, planes, libraries, conferences, classes, and other improb-
able places. This is to say that I am unfortunately unable to remember the
names of all the people that have contributed in a myriad of ways to my
on-going reflection, but I will always be sincerelygrateful for their generosity
and time.
I am deeply indebted to all my interviewees for their patience and gener-
osity of time, for sharing insights on their life experience and struggles, and
for their enthusiasm about my project. Without them this book would simply
not be. Particular thanks go to Belkıs Kılıçkaya for sharing her address book
with me and for our endless conversations on Turkish politics; to Murat
Ardag and Ece Özçelik for their kind help during field work in Turkey; as
well as to Emmanuelle Andréani-Facchin and Ugras Oguz forensuring that I
felt at home in Paris, Ankara and Istanbul.
Research for this project was made possible by generous PhD grants from
theSocialSciencesandHumanitiesResearchCouncilofCanada,theLondon
School of Economics, and the University London Central Research Fund.
My post-doctoral fellowship, funded by the Swiss National Science Founda-
tion, with the Chair Religion, Culture and Society at the University of Mon-
treal andwith the Canadian Religion and Diversity Project, has provided me
with the needed time and space to transform my PhD manuscript into this
book.
John Chalcraft, my supervisor at the LSE, provided on-going support for
this project. He believed in it from its infancy, encouraged me to persevere
evenintimesofgreatdoubtanddiligentlyreadandcriticizedvariousdrafts.I
am deeply grateful for our thought-provoking conversations, and for his
viii Acknowledgements
introduction to post-colonial and critical studies. I thank as well Katerina
Dalacoura for having read, and commented thoughtfully upon, several chap-
ters of this work. Her sense of detail and her good knowledge of the Turkish
case were greatly appreciated. Jeffrey Haynes also expressed enthusiasm for
this project from its early stages. I am deeply thankful for his constant sup-
port and his careful reading of my work, as well as for introducing me to a
vibrant network of scholars working on religion and politics. I thank Nadje
Al-Ali, who pushed me outside my comfort zone and introduced me to a
body of literature that has deeply expanded my intellectual horizon, and
continues to do so. Finally, I am grateful for the precious comments I received
from two anonymous reviewerswho helped me bring this book to completion.
I had the opportunity to present parts of this research in different forums,
including the European University Institute Mediterranean meetings, the
International Studies Association annual meetings, the Middle Eastern
Society Association annual meetings, and workshops at LSE, Princeton,
Cambridge and the University of Geneva. I am grateful for the feedback I
received at each of these occasions, and for having been able to meet collea-
gues who generously contributed to my reflection. When I was doing field-
work in Paris I was invited to participate in the Doctoral Gratianus
Programme, where I met doctoral students from across Europe and expanded
my knowledge of the relationship between state, lawand religion in Europe. I
would like to extend a special thanks to Professor Basdevant-Gaudemet for
welcoming me to the programme, as well as to Professor Margiotta-Broglio
and Rossella Bottoni for putting me in contact with Turkish experts.
I have written parts of this book in different institutions, all of which pro-
vided me with avibrant and supportive intellectual community. Mygratitude
goes to friends and colleagues whom I met at the London School of Eco-
nomics, the University of Geneva, the Open Society summer school, during
field work, as well as those working with the Religion and Diversity project.
A special thanks goes to Anna Fukuda, Natalie Fukuda, Jasmine Gani,
Francesca Biancani, Dia Dabby, Sarah Nicolet, Sebnem Gümüs¸çü, Michael
Bloch, Jasmine Lorenzini, Sara Pupi, Laure Betris, and Günhan Akarçay for
their generosity of mind and heart, and their friendship. I am grateful to all
my students at the University of Geneva, the Graduate Institute, the Open
Society summer school and now at the University of Montreal, who have, at
different occasions, encouraged me to ask different and new questions. I feel
deeply fortunate to have been surrounded by wonderful mentors. I thank
Matteo Gianni for his excellent comments on parts of this work and Xavier
Guillaume for our endless conversations, for encouraging me to engage fur-
ther with theory, and for his friendship (which has kept me sane more than
once). The work of Beth Hurd sparked, in many ways, my intellectual curi-
osity that led me to embark on this journey, and has been an inspiration
throughout. I am grateful for her support and for her invitation to athought-
provoking workshop at Princeton in April 2011 on Law and Religious free-
dom. Solange Lefebvre has provided me over the past two years with a
Acknowledgements ix
stimulating and supportive environment at the University of Montreal, and
has introduced me to the realm of religious studies. I am deeply thankful to
Lori Beaman for encouraging me to finish this book, for our refreshing con-
versations and projects, and for her inspiring scholarship. Finally, Sandra
Harding’s reflection has provided me with the impetus and courage to finish
and send off this manuscript:
Youhavetoputyourideasoutinpublic.Realizeyou’renevergoingtobe
100 percent right, and trust that for now you are the least wrong you
could manage to be.
(Sandra Harding, 2013)
I am indebted to my family, including my siblings, for always grounding me
in reality. Those that know me, know that my family is big and noisy. Family
dinners have been occasions to share, test and defend ideas. These conversa-
tions have, as far as I can remember, always been sources ofinspiration. I am
deeplygrateful to my parents for having raised me in a home where curiosity,
free thought, travelling and love for learning was part and parcel of our
everyday. A special acknowledgement goes to my mother for having read
more than her share of drafts of this book, always providing thoughtful
comments, and for asking provocative questions. Our conversations have and
will continue to inform, in many ways, my thinking. I would like to thank
Karim for his constant companionship and love over the years, for making
melaugh,andmostimportantlyforcraftingwithmeahomeforourmarvellous
daughter: Nour. Finally, I dedicate this book to my paternal grandparentsfor
their insatiable energy, love and support.
Parts of Chapters 2 and 3 appeared in ‘Contemporary laïcité: setting the
terms of a new social contract? The slow exclusion of devout Muslim
women’ Politics, Religion & Ideology 11.2 (2010): 229–47. Permission to
reprint this material has been granted by Routledge Journals. Portions of
Chapter 3 appeared in ‘Sacred secularism and the politics of religious resur-
genceinFrance:consequencesfortherighttoreligiousfreedom’Mediterranean
Politics 18. 2 (2013): 276–93. Parts of Chapters 4 and 5 appeared in ‘A rights
based discourse to contest the boundaries of state secularism? The case of the
headscarf ban in France and Turkey’ Democratization 16.6 (December 2009):
1237 – 1260. Permission to reprint this material has been granted by Routle-
dge Journals. An earlier version of Chapter 6 appeared as: ‘Transnational
understandings of secularisms and the right to religious freedom – exploring
UNandECHRcases’JournalofHumanRights11.2(2012):263–79. Taylor &
Francis has granted me the right to reproduce it. Portions of Chapter 5
appeared as: ‘Devout Turkish Women Struggle for Full Citizenship’ MERIP
262 (Spring 2012): 32–35. I thank MERIP for giving me the right to repro-
duce the material. A paragraph in Chapter 6 appeared in ‘Considering the
genderdimensionofEuropeandebatesontheMuslim“other”’,inS.Behloul,
A. Tunger-Zanetti and S. Leuenberger (eds) Debating Islam, Transcript
