france and the hijab

[elyes_bouhouche]

• What is the role of colonial desire (for knowledge, sex, etc.) in the colonial image of the hijab?

Al-Saji explains how colonial desire influenced the image of the hijab/veil during the colonial period. According to her, French colonisers saw the veil not only as a symbol of cultural difference but also as an obstacle to their desire to control and possess Muslim women and Algeria in general. The veil was seen as a sign of a backward and oppressive culture that had to be unveiled in order to civilise the Algerian people. The veil was seen as a barrier preventing the colonisers from possessing the bodies of Muslim women.
On the other hand, this obsession with unveiling women reinforces the image of the veil as a limitation to the colonial vision, a limitation that they attempted to overcome in order to impose their power. The text also highlights a paradox, which is that Muslim women who wear the veil are both hypervisible (objects of oppression) and invisibilised (reduced to voiceless victims). This image of the veil, constructed by the colonial eye, serves to justify the intervention of the colonisers while at the same time concealing the inequalities and violence of colonial society itself. In short, colonial desire has created an image of the hijab that serves to justify colonialism while reinforcing Western stereotypes and norms.

• What is the relationship between sexularism and Orientalism?

Sexularism presents the idea that secularisation leads to gender equality and sexual freedom, contrasting the West, seen as modern and secular, with the Muslim world, seen as traditional, religious and oppressive towards women and non-heteronormative sexualities. This discourse is similar to orientalism, but rather than describing the Muslim world as sexually depraved, it sees it as a threat to Western sexual freedom. In this sense, secularism is used to justify the exclusion of Muslim populations, presenting them as lagging behind in terms of sexual modernity and gender, in debates on immigration and integration.