Muslims in Europe: Veils in Public Spaces and the Current Political Crisis

796 views · Published 19 December 2013 · 1:21:02 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: Trinity College Dublin · 2013 · Education

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Over the last thirty years, the visible 'otherness' embodied by the Muslim population in the European Union has sparked transnational movements of moral panic, driven mainly by the fear of the collapse of 'national cohesion'. This keynote is concerned with the 'public texture' of the discussions surrounding the recent ban on the wearing of the full veil in public spaces and develops three arguments. The first hinges on the unintelligibility of certain manifestations of belief in secularized European public spaces. The second develops an analysis of the racialization of the indicators of religious belonging, which most specifically affect the Muslim population of the EU. The third finally proposes some speculative readings of the public experience of the different crises arising from the visibility of Islamic religious signs and the capital attached to their visibility: what does this fetishism surrounding religious attire tell us about the European political adventure?

Speakers:
Professor Valérie Amiraux, Montreal University
Introduction: Dr. Daniel Faas, Trinity College Dublin

http://www.tcd.ie
http://www.tcd.ie/sociology/events/public-lecture-series/

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