his thesis analyses whether a legislative ban on wearing a headscarf breaches the right to freedom of religion, as such right is universally understood. It describes the ambit of the right to freedom of religion by examining the theoretical justification and importance of the right and thereafter analysing how the right is recognised in international and regional treaties and domestic constitutions. It demonstrates that religious freedom comprises of the right to hold a religion and the right to manifest a religion in the form of worship, observance, practice and teaching. Religious freedom, however, is not absolute and the thesis explains in the light of international and comparative case-law that the right to freedom of religion may be limited by a law that pursues a legitimate state interest and is reasonable. In light of this theoretical framework the thesis examines the practice of Muslim women wearing a headscarf and argues that the practice constitutes a manifestation of Islamic belief protected by the right to freedom of religion. Thereafter this thesis examines French, Turkish and German prohibitions on wearing a headscarf, the effect of these laws on Muslim women and the justifications furnished for such laws. It is argued that the state interest of preserving secularism relied upon to justify a headscarf ban is not legitimate and does not justify a headscarf ban. Furthermore, even where the state has a legitimate interest in preventing the coercion of young girls, promoting the equality rights of women and maintaining safety and order, a headscarf ban does not constitute a reasonable limitation of religious freedom. Ultimately, this thesis argues that a headscarf ban exacerbates the problems it is meant to solve and constitutes an unjustifiable infringement of religious freedom.

El culto al Señor de los Milagros se manifiesta en la ciudad de Lima cada mes de octubre con una imponente convocatoria durante sus procesiones y se reactualiza en las prácticas de sus miles de fieles alrededor del mundo. Como parte de una investigación mayor orientada a indagar en la historia de este símbolo religioso desde mediados del siglo XVII, me propongo aquí avanzar desde su institucionalización (1771) y seguir su trayectoria durante el períodorepublicano para profundizar en cómo se forjaron los principales significados que hoy expresa este cristo entre la población peruana: una identidad nacional mestiza y una tradición afrodescendiente. Metodológicamente seguiré el abordaje de la antropología histórica, articulando fuentes de etnografía y archivo y aplicando un enfoque histórico-antropológico. Demostraré así cómo la definición del culto en tanto “práctica negra que ha ganado a los blancos” puede sintetizar el derrotero de este símbolo religioso en dos niveles: en términos de su tricentenario proceso histórico y en términos de las representaciones sobre ese proceso. / The cult of Lord of the Miracles takes place every October in Lima with an extraordinary attendance and it renovates on the practice of thousands of devotes around the world. Within a larger study of the history of this symbol from XVII century, I will follow him from his colonial institutionalization (1771) to his republican trajectory in order to explore how his mayor meanings were made up: a mestizanational identity and an afrodescendent tradition. Methodologically, I will use the approach of historic anthropology, with ethnographic and archive sources and with an anthropological-historical point of view. In this way, I will demonstrate how the cult definition as “black practice that has won white people” can summarize the itinerary of that symbol on two levels: in terms of his tricentenary historical process and in terms of representations about that process.