This study examines the experiences of nine hijabi and non-hijabi Muslim girls from diverse backgrounds with curriculum/schooling in public secondary schools in Ontario. The study uses individual interviews and a focus group discussion to delve into how Muslim girls understand their educational experiences. The participants were independent, thoughtful, and conscientious students who were evolving as individuals through their curriculum/schooling experiences. School was a forum where they questioned themselves, discovered their interests, and made sense of their multiple identities. The differences between a participant’s home and school life varied, and each girl had a unique manner in dealing with the various ideological and practical conflicts. As Muslim girls, they were confronted with certain challenges in school; however, this did not detract from the overall positive aspects of their public schooling experiences. My participants felt respected and validated as individuals in their schools and optimistic regarding their futures as Muslim Canadian females.

This study examines the experiences of nine hijabi and non-hijabi Muslim girls from diverse backgrounds with curriculum/schooling in public secondary schools in Ontario. The study uses individual interviews and a focus group discussion to delve into how Muslim girls understand their educational experiences. The participants were independent, thoughtful, and conscientious students who were evolving as individuals through their curriculum/schooling experiences. School was a forum where they questioned themselves, discovered their interests, and made sense of their multiple identities. The differences between a participant’s home and school life varied, and each girl had a unique manner in dealing with the various ideological and practical conflicts. As Muslim girls, they were confronted with certain challenges in school; however, this did not detract from the overall positive aspects of their public schooling experiences. My participants felt respected and validated as individuals in their schools and optimistic regarding their futures as Muslim Canadian females.

Les trois paradigmes majeurs à partir desquels s’oriente l’analyse du voile dans Sordidissimes de Pascal Quignard sont les vêtements et la nudité, les « sordes » et le linceul, la toile et le regard. C’est à l’aide de l’analyse thématique et de la psychanalyse que la relation du voile au corps, à la mort et à l’art, est interprétée. Ce que l’on souhaite mettre en évidence est que le voile tient lieu de l’ambivalence. Il se trouve perpétuellement tendu par la volonté du sujet qui l’utilise tour à tour pour recouvrir ou révéler l’objet de ses désirs ou de ses peurs. Le voile incarne ainsi la frontière d’où s’origine la fascination, qu’elle soit morbide ou sexuelle. / The bases of our analysis of the veil in Pascal Quignard’s Sordidissimes are the three following paradigms : clothing and nudity, sordes and shroud, and canvas and gaze. Thematic analysis as elaborated by Jean-Pierre Richard and psychoanalysis will guide our interpretation of the relation of the veil to the body, death and arts. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the constant movement of the veil. It is not static; the breeze that is the willpower of the self always moves the veil without ever tearing it off. What the veil is hiding or partially revealing is the origin of the fascination – bet it morbid or sexual.

Ce mémoire examine le rôle de la diversité dans une conception de la justice. Je débute en considérant l’abstraction de la différence impliquée dans le raisonnement utilisé pour arriver à une conception de la justice. Par la suite j’évalue le rôle des différences des groupes sociaux dans l’application des principes de justice, en considérant si la justice exige des droits individuels ou si les groupes peuvent revendiquer des droits différenciés. Ce mémoire utilise la position originale de John Rawls pour évaluer la première question, et sa conception de la personne et des groupes sociaux pour examiner la deuxième. Je soutiens que nous pouvons et devrions utiliser l’abstraction de la position originale, tant que nous sommes conscients de ses limites. Bien que sa conception politique de la personne soit également utile pour la défense des droits individuels, sa conception du groupe social n’est pas appropriée pour les groupes culturels ou historiquement opprimés, car il repose trop lourdement sur la notion d’association volontaire. J’analyse l’argument de Will Kymlicka concernant les droits minoritaires et j’enrichis la théorie de Rawls en ajoutant l’inégalité entre groupes. Je termine en examinant les problèmes concernant les minorités à l’intérieur des groupes minoritaires et conclue que les droits minoritaires ne sont justifiées que lorsqu’ils sont compatibles avec les droits individuels, et non pas quand ils renforcent une autre inégalité. Par conséquent, même si l’abstraction au niveau théorique est justifiée, les droits des groupes minoritaires exigeront qu’on porte une attention aux différences entres groupes, ainsi qu’à l’intérieur de ceux-ci. / This thesis examines the role of diversity in a conception of justice. I begin by considering the abstraction from difference involved in the reasoning used to arrive at a conception of justice. I then evaluate the role of social group difference in the application of principles of justice, considering whether justice demands principles that are the same for all in the form of individual rights or whether groups can claim differentiated rights. This thesis uses John Rawls’s original position to evaluate the first question, and his account of the self and social group to discuss the second. I argue that we can and should use the abstraction of the original position, so long as we are aware of its limits. While Rawls’s political conception of the self is also useful for defending individual rights, his account of the social group is inappropriate for cultural or historically oppressed groups, as it relies too heavily on the notion of voluntary association. I follow Will Kymlicka’s argument for minority rights and extend Rawls's theory to consider inequality between groups. I close by considering concerns regarding minorities within minorities, and conclude that minority rights are only justified when they are consistent with individual rights, not when they reinforce a different inequality. Therefore, even though the abstraction at the theoretical level is justified, minority rights for groups will require attention to the differences between groups, as well as within them.

This thesis deals with the sexuality of Iranian women living in Sweden. Considering sexuality as gendered and socio-culturally constructed, I examine the impact of Iranian Islamic discourses, contemporary socialization and migration on women’s narrations of sexuality. The theoretical platform arises from a Foucauldian discursive analysis of sexuality, including Iranian and/or Islamic discourses on sexuality, and diasporic and feminist postcolonial theories. The empirical basis of the thesis consists of ten in-depth interviews with first generation Iranian immigrant women in Sweden. The narratives are the textual field for exploring the divergent and contingent intersections of discourses that constitute the women’s sexuality. Themes that surface in the narratives are the importance of virginity, veiling practices, requirements for modest dress codes, lack of sexual education, first sexual experience, marriage, divorce and diasporic experiences. With sexuality as the main subject of analysis, my focus draws on articulations involving gender, otherness, agency and marginality. Being alert to different (at times contradictory) discourses, I study the tension that develops between the process of (self)disciplining the body and the women’s coping tactics. The study examines the ways women take part in existing institutions while exhibiting agency and creating new ways to negotiate across discourses. This thesis shows how moral values regarding sexual behavior undergo various and sometimes contradictory transformations. The women report being torn between two different cultures. Yet, while consistently facing a crossroads of racist and sexist discourses filled with stereotypes of so-called natives and outsiders, I argue that the women are not caught between two cultures. Rather, they live a hybrid experience of ‘Swedishness,’ ‘Iranianness’ and other social relations. Complexity defines their tactics; the women exist in the interstices of culture(s) and discourses.

This thesis presents a study of the institutions, forms and manifestations of secularism, or 'laïcité', in France, in the context of a series of events which came to be called the 'affaire du foulard'. The first incidents in the affaire took place in September 1989 with the expulsion of three primary schoolgirls in Creil, in the north of France, who were insisting on wearing the Islamic headscarf (known in French as the 'foulard') to school. Their actions were deemed contrary to the fundamental Republican principle of secularism in public schools, and the events were reported in several newspapers, before becoming a national controversy in media around the country. In this case, however, it was difficult to know how to interpret and apply laïcité in the context of a modern public school in the French Republic. The principle of secularism, or laïcité, is a central tenet of French public policy, and public education in particular. Laïcité also represents a set of social and cultural values which have profound historical resonances for many French people. At the same time, the public schools were unsure of how to negotiate their students’ freedom of religious expression, which, according to historical and legislative texts, is protected and upheld by the concept of laïcité, while also ensuring that the principle of laïcité was maintained. In a bid to resolve the uncertainty, France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’État, handed down a legal opinion in November 1989 in which it stated that the wearing of religious signs in public schools was not by itself incompatible with laïcité in France, although the religious signs could be prohibited in certain circumstances. In addition, various ministerial circulars were issued by successive Education Ministers between 1989 and 1994 to advise schools on how the law was to be interpreted and applied in this matter. One of the circulars, issued in 1994 by François Bayrou, encouraged schools to prohibit the wearing of the foulard and to apply strict penalties if Muslim girls continued to wear it. These measures resulted in an increase in the number of Muslim schoolgirls expelled for wearing the foulard, as well as in the numbers of public protests against the expulsions and the circular itself. Some of the schoolgirls and their families appealed against the expulsion decisions, and their cases appeared before France’s administrative courts over the years between 1992 and 1997. My thesis examines the key legal and administrative texts in the affaire du foulard, including the Conseil d’État’s 1989 legal opinion and the ministerial circulars, noting the legal implications of successive circulars and the shifts in government policy which they represented. In addition, my thesis analyses the transcripts of many of the legal judgements in the “headscarf” legal cases. These judgements were important not only in deciding the future education of the schoolgirls, but also in clarifying the 1989 opinion. They established a consistent set of principles to define the circumstances in which wearing religious signs such as the foulard was considered compatible or not with laïcité in public schools. The results of this analysis indicate that, contrary to popular opinion in relation to the affaire du foulard, the majority of cases were decided in the Muslim girls’ favour and upheld their right to wear a religious sign such as the Islamic headscarf at school. Recently, however, the legal regime in France governing the wearing of religious signs has changed. In early 2004, a new law on secularism was passed by the French Parliament to prohibit the wearing of the foulard (and indeed all visible religious signs) in public schools. The law has been welcomed by many sectors of the French community, but has also provoked extensive public protests. The passage of the new law does not alter either the analytical work or the conclusions of this thesis. Rather, the thesis offers an insight into the background of the affaire du foulard and thus a more informed appreciation of the potential legal and social consequences of the 2004 law in future years. The principal aim of this thesis is to provide a careful account of the institutions and operation of the principle of secularism, or laïcité, in France. My research also explains some of the complexities of the legislative regime established by the Conseil d’État and the administrative courts, who worked to balance priorities of freedom of religion and laïcité as well as to protect the education of many expelled Muslim schoolgirls, and in so doing, my thesis highlights the complexity of the principle of laïcité itself.

This thesis presents a study of the institutions, forms and manifestations of secularism, or 'laïcité', in France, in the context of a series of events which came to be called the 'affaire du foulard'. The first incidents in the affaire took place in September 1989 with the expulsion of three primary schoolgirls in Creil, in the north of France, who were insisting on wearing the Islamic headscarf (known in French as the 'foulard') to school. Their actions were deemed contrary to the fundamental Republican principle of secularism in public schools, and the events were reported in several newspapers, before becoming a national controversy in media around the country. In this case, however, it was difficult to know how to interpret and apply laïcité in the context of a modern public school in the French Republic. The principle of secularism, or laïcité, is a central tenet of French public policy, and public education in particular. Laïcité also represents a set of social and cultural values which have profound historical resonances for many French people. At the same time, the public schools were unsure of how to negotiate their students’ freedom of religious expression, which, according to historical and legislative texts, is protected and upheld by the concept of laïcité, while also ensuring that the principle of laïcité was maintained. In a bid to resolve the uncertainty, France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’État, handed down a legal opinion in November 1989 in which it stated that the wearing of religious signs in public schools was not by itself incompatible with laïcité in France, although the religious signs could be prohibited in certain circumstances. In addition, various ministerial circulars were issued by successive Education Ministers between 1989 and 1994 to advise schools on how the law was to be interpreted and applied in this matter. One of the circulars, issued in 1994 by François Bayrou, encouraged schools to prohibit the wearing of the foulard and to apply strict penalties if Muslim girls continued to wear it. These measures resulted in an increase in the number of Muslim schoolgirls expelled for wearing the foulard, as well as in the numbers of public protests against the expulsions and the circular itself. Some of the schoolgirls and their families appealed against the expulsion decisions, and their cases appeared before France’s administrative courts over the years between 1992 and 1997. My thesis examines the key legal and administrative texts in the affaire du foulard, including the Conseil d’État’s 1989 legal opinion and the ministerial circulars, noting the legal implications of successive circulars and the shifts in government policy which they represented. In addition, my thesis analyses the transcripts of many of the legal judgements in the “headscarf” legal cases. These judgements were important not only in deciding the future education of the schoolgirls, but also in clarifying the 1989 opinion. They established a consistent set of principles to define the circumstances in which wearing religious signs such as the foulard was considered compatible or not with laïcité in public schools. The results of this analysis indicate that, contrary to popular opinion in relation to the affaire du foulard, the majority of cases were decided in the Muslim girls’ favour and upheld their right to wear a religious sign such as the Islamic headscarf at school. Recently, however, the legal regime in France governing the wearing of religious signs has changed. In early 2004, a new law on secularism was passed by the French Parliament to prohibit the wearing of the foulard (and indeed all visible religious signs) in public schools. The law has been welcomed by many sectors of the French community, but has also provoked extensive public protests. The passage of the new law does not alter either the analytical work or the conclusions of this thesis. Rather, the thesis offers an insight into the background of the affaire du foulard and thus a more informed appreciation of the potential legal and social consequences of the 2004 law in future years. The principal aim of this thesis is to provide a careful account of the institutions and operation of the principle of secularism, or laïcité, in France. My research also explains some of the complexities of the legislative regime established by the Conseil d’État and the administrative courts, who worked to balance priorities of freedom of religion and laïcité as well as to protect the education of many expelled Muslim schoolgirls, and in so doing, my thesis highlights the complexity of the principle of laïcité itself.

This thesis presents a study of the institutions, forms and manifestations of secularism, or 'laïcité', in France, in the context of a series of events which came to be called the 'affaire du foulard'. The first incidents in the affaire took place in September 1989 with the expulsion of three primary schoolgirls in Creil, in the north of France, who were insisting on wearing the Islamic headscarf (known in French as the 'foulard') to school. Their actions were deemed contrary to the fundamental Republican principle of secularism in public schools, and the events were reported in several newspapers, before becoming a national controversy in media around the country. In this case, however, it was difficult to know how to interpret and apply laïcité in the context of a modern public school in the French Republic. The principle of secularism, or laïcité, is a central tenet of French public policy, and public education in particular. Laïcité also represents a set of social and cultural values which have profound historical resonances for many French people. At the same time, the public schools were unsure of how to negotiate their students’ freedom of religious expression, which, according to historical and legislative texts, is protected and upheld by the concept of laïcité, while also ensuring that the principle of laïcité was maintained. In a bid to resolve the uncertainty, France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’État, handed down a legal opinion in November 1989 in which it stated that the wearing of religious signs in public schools was not by itself incompatible with laïcité in France, although the religious signs could be prohibited in certain circumstances. In addition, various ministerial circulars were issued by successive Education Ministers between 1989 and 1994 to advise schools on how the law was to be interpreted and applied in this matter. One of the circulars, issued in 1994 by François Bayrou, encouraged schools to prohibit the wearing of the foulard and to apply strict penalties if Muslim girls continued to wear it. These measures resulted in an increase in the number of Muslim schoolgirls expelled for wearing the foulard, as well as in the numbers of public protests against the expulsions and the circular itself. Some of the schoolgirls and their families appealed against the expulsion decisions, and their cases appeared before France’s administrative courts over the years between 1992 and 1997. My thesis examines the key legal and administrative texts in the affaire du foulard, including the Conseil d’État’s 1989 legal opinion and the ministerial circulars, noting the legal implications of successive circulars and the shifts in government policy which they represented. In addition, my thesis analyses the transcripts of many of the legal judgements in the “headscarf” legal cases. These judgements were important not only in deciding the future education of the schoolgirls, but also in clarifying the 1989 opinion. They established a consistent set of principles to define the circumstances in which wearing religious signs such as the foulard was considered compatible or not with laïcité in public schools. The results of this analysis indicate that, contrary to popular opinion in relation to the affaire du foulard, the majority of cases were decided in the Muslim girls’ favour and upheld their right to wear a religious sign such as the Islamic headscarf at school. Recently, however, the legal regime in France governing the wearing of religious signs has changed. In early 2004, a new law on secularism was passed by the French Parliament to prohibit the wearing of the foulard (and indeed all visible religious signs) in public schools. The law has been welcomed by many sectors of the French community, but has also provoked extensive public protests. The passage of the new law does not alter either the analytical work or the conclusions of this thesis. Rather, the thesis offers an insight into the background of the affaire du foulard and thus a more informed appreciation of the potential legal and social consequences of the 2004 law in future years. The principal aim of this thesis is to provide a careful account of the institutions and operation of the principle of secularism, or laïcité, in France. My research also explains some of the complexities of the legislative regime established by the Conseil d’État and the administrative courts, who worked to balance priorities of freedom of religion and laïcité as well as to protect the education of many expelled Muslim schoolgirls, and in so doing, my thesis highlights the complexity of the principle of laïcité itself.

This thesis presents a study of the institutions, forms and manifestations of secularism, or 'laïcité', in France, in the context of a series of events which came to be called the 'affaire du foulard'. The first incidents in the affaire took place in September 1989 with the expulsion of three primary schoolgirls in Creil, in the north of France, who were insisting on wearing the Islamic headscarf (known in French as the 'foulard') to school. Their actions were deemed contrary to the fundamental Republican principle of secularism in public schools, and the events were reported in several newspapers, before becoming a national controversy in media around the country. In this case, however, it was difficult to know how to interpret and apply laïcité in the context of a modern public school in the French Republic. The principle of secularism, or laïcité, is a central tenet of French public policy, and public education in particular. Laïcité also represents a set of social and cultural values which have profound historical resonances for many French people. At the same time, the public schools were unsure of how to negotiate their students’ freedom of religious expression, which, according to historical and legislative texts, is protected and upheld by the concept of laïcité, while also ensuring that the principle of laïcité was maintained. In a bid to resolve the uncertainty, France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’État, handed down a legal opinion in November 1989 in which it stated that the wearing of religious signs in public schools was not by itself incompatible with laïcité in France, although the religious signs could be prohibited in certain circumstances. In addition, various ministerial circulars were issued by successive Education Ministers between 1989 and 1994 to advise schools on how the law was to be interpreted and applied in this matter. One of the circulars, issued in 1994 by François Bayrou, encouraged schools to prohibit the wearing of the foulard and to apply strict penalties if Muslim girls continued to wear it. These measures resulted in an increase in the number of Muslim schoolgirls expelled for wearing the foulard, as well as in the numbers of public protests against the expulsions and the circular itself. Some of the schoolgirls and their families appealed against the expulsion decisions, and their cases appeared before France’s administrative courts over the years between 1992 and 1997. My thesis examines the key legal and administrative texts in the affaire du foulard, including the Conseil d’État’s 1989 legal opinion and the ministerial circulars, noting the legal implications of successive circulars and the shifts in government policy which they represented. In addition, my thesis analyses the transcripts of many of the legal judgements in the “headscarf” legal cases. These judgements were important not only in deciding the future education of the schoolgirls, but also in clarifying the 1989 opinion. They established a consistent set of principles to define the circumstances in which wearing religious signs such as the foulard was considered compatible or not with laïcité in public schools. The results of this analysis indicate that, contrary to popular opinion in relation to the affaire du foulard, the majority of cases were decided in the Muslim girls’ favour and upheld their right to wear a religious sign such as the Islamic headscarf at school. Recently, however, the legal regime in France governing the wearing of religious signs has changed. In early 2004, a new law on secularism was passed by the French Parliament to prohibit the wearing of the foulard (and indeed all visible religious signs) in public schools. The law has been welcomed by many sectors of the French community, but has also provoked extensive public protests. The passage of the new law does not alter either the analytical work or the conclusions of this thesis. Rather, the thesis offers an insight into the background of the affaire du foulard and thus a more informed appreciation of the potential legal and social consequences of the 2004 law in future years. The principal aim of this thesis is to provide a careful account of the institutions and operation of the principle of secularism, or laïcité, in France. My research also explains some of the complexities of the legislative regime established by the Conseil d’État and the administrative courts, who worked to balance priorities of freedom of religion and laïcité as well as to protect the education of many expelled Muslim schoolgirls, and in so doing, my thesis highlights the complexity of the principle of laïcité itself.

Diss. Northwestern Univ., 2007.