Islam Returns to Spain: Religious Diversity, Political Discourse and Women's Rights

On February 14, 2013, the Tribunal Supremo of Spain handed down a judgement which gave constitutional protection to the burka and which also contained important statements concerning contemporary Spanish society, its religious and cultural diversity and the convivencia of cultures and religions. Con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Main Author: Gould, Robert (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis [2015]
In: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Year: 2015, Volume: 26, Issue: 2, Pages: 165-182
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
BJ Islam
KBH Iberian Peninsula
TK Recent history
Further subjects:B Women's Rights
B Convivencia
B Islam
B Burqa
B Political Discourse
B Spain
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:On February 14, 2013, the Tribunal Supremo of Spain handed down a judgement which gave constitutional protection to the burka and which also contained important statements concerning contemporary Spanish society, its religious and cultural diversity and the convivencia of cultures and religions. Contrary to the position of the Tribunal Supremo, and showing very little variation, the political discourse is in favour of a ban, basing its arguments principally on women's rights, but with a perceptible shift towards public safety. This article will examine this bifurcated reaction to this manifestation of renewed religious diversity in Spain: the politicians’ arguments in favour of prohibition reflect the protectionist view of the French and Belgian parliamentary debates prohibiting the burka, but place them in the framework of the post-Franco rights-based society. On the other hand, the Tribunal Supremo anchors its judgement in a narrative of a free and democratic Spanish state and society in which a woman's individual freedom of choice takes precedence over all other considerations, including social norms.
ISSN:1469-9311
Contains:Enthalten in: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09596410.2014.997964