CFP, The Fully-Veiled Woman in France: Commissions, Secularism, and the Limits of the Law

Panel title: The Fully-Veiled Woman in France: Commissions, Secularism, and the Limits of the Law
Session Abstract:

Following a six-month investigation by a 32-membered mission, the “Rapport on the Practice of Full-Face Veiling in the National Territory” was presented to the National Assembly in France on Tuesday, January 26th 2010. Led by André Gerin, the 644-page rapport follows several others since 2003, including the Stasi Commission which led to the 2004 ban on conspicuous religious signs in public schools. The rapport considers several factors including the Qur’anic legitimacy of full-face coverings, women’s rights, and secularism in France.

This panel seeks to broadly contextualize the 2010 Gerin rapport. We are looking for papers which compare this report alongside others released in France and Europe, which map the legalities of a possible ban on full-face coverings, which take up secularism vis-à-vis this development, which consider the implications for women’s rights within a feminist discourse, or which consider religion and Islam in France more generally and its depiction of fully-faced covered women.



This panel is being organized by Dr. Melanie Adrian (adrian@fas.harvard.edu) and Dr. Jennifer Selby (jselby@mun.ca). Please contact Dr. Adrian with a proposed title and 250-word abstract by Friday, February 26th, 2010. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified via email by March 1, 2010.