Marianne at the Beach: The French Burkini Controversy and the Shifting Meanings of Republican Secularism

Almeida, Dimitri

doi:10.1080/07256868.2017.1410112

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The municipality of Cannes, for example, justified its anti-burkini decree with the following reasoning: It began by identifying the beach as a public service subject to the principle of neutrality applicable to public service providers. On the basis of this claim, it then characterised beachgoers as public service users, arguing that the latter were subject to the same obligation of religious neutrality as the former (Almeida, 2018: 22). More candidly, Prime Minister Manuel Valls defended the burkini bans by stating that ‘[b]eaches, like all public spaces, must be protected from religious claims’ (La Provence, 2016).…”

Section: Laïcité As Spatial Governmentalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Space and secularism: Laïcité, spatial governmentality, and exclusion in French hijab stories

Almeida

2022

Social Compass

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The article frames current practices of French laïcité in terms of spatial governmentality. It builds upon this notion to explore spatialised representations of religion and secularism in ‘hijab stories’ (narratives of the self that focus on the daily experiences of women who wear a hijab). The analysis of Fatimata Diallo’s Sous mon voile and Nargesse Bibimoune’s Confidence à mon voile reveals an ever-expansive reach of an exclusionary reading of laïcité. This phenomenon has severely restricted the spatial practice of hijabi women in French society favouring adaptive strategies that include the creation of counter-spaces of subjectivation and self-expression.

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Section: Laïcité As Spatial Governmentalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Space and secularism: Laïcité, spatial governmentality, and exclusion in French hijab stories

Almeida

2022

Social Compass

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“…They tend to be surrounded by rules and rituals that control who can see and touch whom and what (Foucault 1990(Foucault , 1992. Sports and bathing customs are included in this affective and troublesome area of being human, and sometimes they contradict or disturb the normalised order, as the case of the infamous burkinigate in France showed not so long ago (see Almeida 2018;.…”

Section: Delicate Intimacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Intimacy and ‘White Feminism’: On the Vain Trust in Scandinavian Equality

Hero

2020

Pluralistic Struggles in Gender, Sexuality and Coloniality

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This chapter addresses Islamophobia as it is expressed in and through discourses of feminism and gender inequality, in some recent debates about public appearances of Muslims in Sweden. In debates about whether or not we should open for a few hours of women only in the public swimming pools debaters use feminist arguments on equality, some writers argue that such an act would risk that Sweden turned into a ‘medieval’ situation, or becomes a version of Iran. Liberal debaters, who clearly restrict their liberalism to westernised individuals and practices, build these arguments upon a rationale of feminism and gender equality. How can we protect the feminist discourse from being used in Islamophobic contexts as these? In this chapter I argue that feminism has to strengthen its articulations of its critique against universalism, and white, western, secular, middle-class (as well as hetero- and cis-) values, if it wants to be relevant in a globalised world.

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“…This dynamic is reflected in major recent stories related to Islam: the hijab ban in schools, the prohibition on public face coverings, and perceived implications of increasing halal butcher shops on French gastronomy. Through these discourses, French laïcité has morphed into an exclusionary form of secularism (Almeida, 2018).…”

Section: French Identity and Islammentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Investigating newswire photographic coverage of the burkini is useful for unraveling the visual representation of this complex cross-cultural debate. Understanding the way the debate is framed in wire service coverage illuminates the socially constructed nature of the issue, which pits notions of politicized religiosity against expressions of female agency (Almeida, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal Choice or Political Provocation: Examining the Visual Framing and Stereotyping of the Burkini Debate

Bowe

Gosen

Fahmy

2019

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

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The burkini, a modest swimsuit marketed to Muslim women, was at the center of controversy in France when it was banned from the beaches in dozens of cities. This research examines how the three leading international newswires (Agence France-Presse/Getty Images, Associated Press, and Reuters) visually framed this debate and whether they visually stereotyped women wearing the burkini. Using a mixed-method approach, this study unpacks the role of news agency photography in visual representation. The analysis examines four visual frames: Mediated Solidarity, Administrative Response, Symbolic Fashion, and Active Liberation.

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Marianne at the Beach: The French Burkini Controversy and the Shifting Meanings of Republican Secularism

Cited by 13 publications

References 26 publications

Space and secularism: Laïcité, spatial governmentality, and exclusion in French hijab stories

Space and secularism: Laïcité, spatial governmentality, and exclusion in French hijab stories

Public Intimacy and ‘White Feminism’: On the Vain Trust in Scandinavian Equality

Personal Choice or Political Provocation: Examining the Visual Framing and Stereotyping of the Burkini Debate

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