In this post I would agree with the anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod* that the burqa is a "symbolic mobile home" for the women who wear it, and that this is, as Jackson Lears is accused of arguing, a "lesser of two evils" argument. However I would also argue that countries which have considered, or brought in, a ban on the burqa have also shown no interest whatsoever in the emancipation of those women, but simply wish to retire the burqa from the public view.
*Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2002. Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others. American Anthropologist 104, no. 3: 783-790.
That makes sense; a ban only forces the women to stay inside their homes, where it is even more unlikely they can ever be helped to integrate. IMO the ban is more about making everyone else feel more comfortable.
ReplyDelete"The Belgian law ... seeks to punish anyone caught in public places with their face completely or partially covered - thus preventing their identification ..."
ReplyDeleteThat's some sinister shit. Nice pre-emption against all of us when we realize we are being tracked by cameras and face-identification AI at all times and seek to escape it. Seems the Belgians and the French are using Muslims to lead the way in establishing methods for our coming police state.