Headscarf Debates

Anna Korteweg is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto and coeditor of Debating Sharia: Islam, Gender Politics, and Family Law Arbitration. Gökçe Yurdakul is Professor of Sociology at Humboldt University of Berlin and author of From Guest Workers into Muslims: Turkish Immigrant Associations in Germany.

"Korteweg and Yurdakul's The Headscarf Debates is a truly exciting and valuable addition to the scholarly production on Muslim women's veiling in Turkey and contemporary Europe (specifically France, the Netherlands, and Germany) . . . [T]his is a very fine contribution to the headscarf debate in Europe, adding much to the current scholarship at the level of approach, methodology, and coverage."—Sahar Amer, Sociology of Religion "The authors provide a well-structured, in-depth comparative analysis based on detailed case study material, painstakingly well informed by a vast array of data, which makes a compelling read . . . [E]ssential reading for anyone interested in the controversies around Islam and national identity and is a very valuable research resource."—June Edmunds, Ethnic and Racial Studies "The Headscarf Debates: Conflicts of National Belonging, by Anna C. Korteweg and Gökçe Yurdakul, is a detailed and thoughtful work of comparative cultural sociology."—Andrew J. Perrin, Scatterplot "The Headscarf Debates: Conflicts of National Belonging is an excellent comparative addition to the literature on Muslim immigrants and their children's inclusion and exclusion in debates about national identity in Europe. Korteweg and Yurdakul's strength lies in analyzing the specific history and socio-politics of each country—France, Turkey, the Netherlands, and Germany—in framing the headscarf . . . Overall, the book is an impressive and highly useful work for understanding how four nations have reached their current, contested rules about Muslim women's dress and what this says about their uneasy and unfinished attempts to re-imagine the national self."—Caitlin Killian, Reviews and Critical Commentary "Anna Korteweg and Gökçe Yurdakul turn the debates over Islamic headscarves to new use. At a time when the presence of new visible minorities forces citizens to articulate what unites 'us,' their analysis provides new understandings of the issues at stake."—John R. Bowen, Washington University in St. Louis, author of A New Anthropology of Islam "Anna Korteweg and Gökçe Yurdakul transcend the usual discourse on Muslim women's headscarves and develop instead a debate best understood from the situated gazes of various participants—a debate in which Muslim women or women of Muslim origins need to be seen as equal participant subjects and not just objects of the discussions."—Nira Yuval-Davis, University of East London "The Headscarf Debates: Conflicts of National Belonging, by Anna C. Korteweg and Gökçe Yurdakul, is a detailed and thoughtful work of comparative cultural sociology. It focuses on four debates in Europe about the wearing of headscarves (in all four cases, actually niqabs, misrepresented as burkas, as the book nicely explains). Using extensive analysis of media and legal discourse, it shows similarities but, more interestingly, differences among the debates in France, Turkey, the Netherlands, and Germany. These differences highlight persistent cultural differences in the relationship between state, citizens, and religion: differences the book describes as 'conflicts of national belonging.'"—Andrew Perrin, Scatterplot