Authors-Meet-Critics: The Headscarf Debates: Conflicts of National Belonging, Anna C. Korteweg and Gokce Yurdakul

In this Book Panel, we aim to discuss the most recent developments on headscarf and burka debates in Europe in light of the framework suggested in the Headscarf Debates: Conflicts of National Belonging. The authors explore how the headscarf has become a symbol used to reaffirm or transform stories of belonging. Focusing on France, Germany the Netherlands and Turkey, the authors discuss recent cultural and political events and the debates they engender, enlivening the issues with interviews with social activists, and recreating the fervor which erupts near the core of each national identity when threats are perceived and changes are proposed... (SUP website). 

The participants of the panel are equal co-authors, Anna Korteweg and Gökce Yurdakul as well as internationally renowned experts who have published books and articles on the issues of secularism (Kastoryano, Ozyurek, Bowen), Islam in Europe (Kastoryano, Bowen, Laurence, Ozyurek), national belonging (Kastoryano, Ozyurek, Laurence), headscarf debates (Bowen, Ozyurek) and gender equality (Marx-Ferree). The panelists will use the book as a jumping off point to discuss issues such as the decision of the European Court of Human Rights to allow France to ban the burka and niqab, the lifting of the headscarf ban in Turkey and the 10th anniversary of the headscarf decision in the German Supreme Court. 

Organizer's note: As suggested by the CES organizers, we justify the selection of the discussants above. Authors are added as panel discussants. It is uncertain whether Myra Marx-Ferree can participate in the conference. If she does, we can benefit from her gender perspective.