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Of bodies and burkinis: institutional Islamophobia, Islamic dress and the colonial condition

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 16:05 authored by Kimberley Brayson
The 2016 burkini controversy and the criminalization of visibly Muslim women in France is a violent reminder of the precarity of colonial bodies in public space. These laws demonstrate the ongoing management of colonial bodies and communities which speaks over time from historical colonization to present, and future, neocolonial narratives. This article moves beyond the dominant logics of security and gender oppression in the Islamic dress debate which, it is argued, are invoked in a strategic manner to obfuscate the colonial condition and engender a normative, institutional Islamophobia in the public-political imaginary. It critiques the instrumental use of law in creating political space for such agendas and analyses the whiteness of public space and institutions. The article insists that it is necessary to acknowledge the epistemic lens of the colonial condition in the Islamic dress debate and critically reflects on the alienation and reduced capacity for action of bodies wearing Islamic dress.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Journal of Law and Society

ISSN

0263-323X

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing

Issue

1

Volume

46

Page range

55-82

Department affiliated with

  • Law Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research Publications
  • Centre for Gender Studies Publications
  • Sussex European Institute Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-11-29

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-08-19

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-11-30

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