exploring muslim identities in europe & north america

In the video below (in Greek with English subtitles), Anna Stamou, Public Relations at MEE (Greek Muslim Union), speaks at Tatiana Stefanidou's show "Αξίζει να το Ζείς", on Star Channel. The conversation revolves around  her decision to convert to Islam and, perhaps more importantly, her decision to wear the hijab. This was a very positive moment for Muslims in Greece, especially for those who have converted to Islam and face disapproval and marginalization. Stamou's presence in the programme went some way to challenge representations of Islam and Muslims as alien - she represented an example of both boundary crossing (converting to Islam) and challenging boundaries (as she did not fit to the stereotype of an "outsider", of someone who "did not quite belong").  Having said that, interestingly, the discussion was advertised as focusing on the " Greek woman who married to the President of the Muslims [Greek Muslim Union] and wore the...

Earlier yesterday members of the French parliament approved with 336 votes for and 1 against a controversial law banning the voile intégral (the burqa). The vote has not come as a surpise as it has been discussed and anticipated for several months. Although the reasons put forward in support of the ban consider the burqa a “prison for women” and a “sign of their submission to their husbands, brothers or fathers” and therefore identify Muslim women as the target of this law, the legislators crafted the law in such a way as to ban any face-covering material, to “forbid concealing one’s face in public.” On the surface, a gender blind piece of legislation whose authors claim no intention to discriminate against Islam, the law curiously contains elements that clearly negate the declarations of its sponsors. In a display of determined arrogance that totalitarian regimes would envy, the law stipulates that, alongside a fine of  €150, women who will be caught covering their faces will b...