Submission Date

4-24-2018

Document Type

Paper- Restricted to Campus Access

Department

Sociology

Second Department

Modern Languages (French)

Adviser

Julin Everett

Second Adviser

Lauren Wynne

Committee Member

Julin Everett

Committee Member

Lauren Wynne

Committee Member

Danielle Widmann Abraham

Department Chair

Jonathan Clark

Department Chair

Matthew Mizenko

Project Description

This project examines the cultural anxieties experienced by the veiled Muslim woman in France in order to attempt to explain her marginalization and oppression in contemporary French society. In order to determine the root of the narrative that the veiled Muslim woman poses a threat to French identity, it is necessary to examine the 19th-20th century and contemporary expectations of French women. In a society in which the Republic is held above all else, outward displays of a primary devotion to religion is perceived as a slight to the Republic. The implicit requirements for female citizenship in the Republic obligate French women to emulate the ideal French woman, the mythical figure of Marianne. Veiled Muslim French women are barred from achieving this goal due to their inaccessible bodies. Women are used by the state as a method of advancing its particular agenda in a process of social reciprocity and exchange. The veiled Muslim woman threatens French society because her perceived physical and cultural separation from society renders her identity unavailable to the Republic.

Comments

A French language version of this project is also available here: https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/french_hon/2/

Download

Share

COinS