Seite - 95 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 02/01

Images of the Muslim Woman | 95www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/1, 91–110 THE ESSENTIALIST PARADIGM Remarkably, when some social scientists engage in intellectual discourse on the Mus- lim Woman, on her body (covered or not) and on the veil (headscarf or burqa), they often neutralise the context as if it were of no consequence and homogenise the woman’s identities, seeing only her religious identity as valid, authentic, and relevant. They seem to see only the veil, not the person wearing the veil. They, too, have con- structed an encapsulated image of the Muslim Woman that hides her individual hu- manity and personality. Each of the political and social actors mentioned in the three images above – Is- lamist fundamentalists, Western far-right xenophobic forces, and the authoritarian state – has political motives for engaging in a discourse that is both ahistorical and decontextualised. Similarly, such social scientists seem to be engaged in a discourse driven by ideology rather than context or history. They talk in terms of abstract con- cepts such as freedom of religion and constitutional law and treat the Muslim Woman as an oppressed member of a minority who needs to be defended and protected from the vilification and demonisation of her religious identity. One established approach to this subject has been described by Pascale Fournier as “left legalism”, defined by Janet Halley and Wendy Brown as “endeavours in which the left [seeks] to mobilize the implicit promise of the liberal state that it will attempt to make justice happen by means of law”.6 Here justice means the Muslim Woman’s right to wear a veil, specifi- cally the burqa. Building on Fournier’s classification, this intellectual engagement with legalism and the discourse it generates has a number of aspirations. First, it seems to give voice and agency to Muslim women through freedom of religion and the defence of freely chosen beliefs. Natasha Bakht’s chapter entitled “Veiled Objections: Facing Public Op- position to the Niqab” provides samples of this type of discourse. Bakht writes that many Muslim women literally “wear” their religious convictions for all to see,7 an idea echoed by Jen’nan Ghazal Read and John P. Bartkowski, who note, “These veiled re- spondents find comfort in the cultural and ethnic distinctiveness that the veil affords them . . . [linking] them to the broader community (ummah) of Islamic believers and Muslim women”.8 The headscarf can express an active interest in Islamic scripture, as a gesture that reaffirms a commitment to Islamic morality and identity within a modern social context and must not necessarily be seen as a manifestation of passive submission to the Islamic community.9 For others yet, the veil is a reminder of accept- able forms of behaviour for men and women.10 The veil can be seen, Bakht concludes, 6 Halley and Brown, quoted in Fournier 2013, 690. 7 Bakht 2012, 81–82. 8 Read and Bartkowski, quoted in Bakht 2012, 81. 9 Göle 1996, 4; Wiles 2007, 720. 10 Yildiz Atasoy, referenced in Bakht 2012, 82.