Saving Muslim Women: A Feminist-postcolonial Critique of Veiling Legislation in Norway

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Islamophobia Studies Journal

Volume 3, Issue 1

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Saving Muslim Women: A Feminist-postcolonial Critique of Veiling Legislation in Norway

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Author(s): Therese Ignacio Bjoernaas

Publication date (Print): Fall 2015

Journal: Islamophobia Studies Journal

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Muslims, Western feminism, veiling, Norway

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Abstract

This paper explores the connection between Western feminism and Islamophobia in Norway through an analysis of the veiling legislation of Siv Jensen, the leader of the Norwegian Progress Party. I argue that this legislation is guilty of cultural imperialism because it racializes Muslims in general as inferior, and Muslim women as passive victims in need of white women's liberation. Jensen's feminism exemplifies “Islamophobic victimization” because it suggests that veiled women have no agency under the entrenched patriarchy of Islam. Disguised in feminist language, her veiling legalization construes Islam as inferior and reinforces a colonial master narrative. It is marked by a special concern for what Rey Chow calls “the ‘subjectivity’ of the other-as-oppressed-victim.” Jensen's representation of Islam is Islamophobic in that it perpetuates negative stereotypes about Muslims and defines Islam as both inferior to, and incompatible with, Western culture. She asks a rhetorical question: “Are we going to be on the side of intolerant Islamic leaders who force women to wear the veil or are we going to be on the side of women who fight for greater tolerance and equality?” In doing so, she and her party demonstrate that unveiling is as much about saving Norway from Muslims as it is about saving Muslim women from Islam.

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Therese Ignacio Bjoernaas

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Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): islastudj

Title: Islamophobia Studies Journal

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 23258381

ISSN (Electronic): 2325839X

Publication date (Print): Fall 2015

Volume: 3

Issue: 1

Pages: 78-89

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Graduate Theological Union and University of California, Berkeley

Article

Publisher ID: islastudj.3.1.0078

DOI: 10.13169/islastudj.3.1.0078

SO-VID: 918cda4f-ca3a-4ac3-bf87-0a261d5f3b50

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Social & Behavioral Sciences

Keywords: Western feminism,veiling,Norway,Muslims

Endnotes

Zempi Irene and Neil Chakraborti, Islamophobia, Victimisation, and the Veil (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Pivot, 2014), 3.
Chow, Rey “Where have all the Natives Gone?” in Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader , ed. Reina Lewis and Sara Mills (New York: Routledge, 2003), 326.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture , ed. C Nelson and L. Grossberg (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1988), 296. Spivak offers this dictum as a comment on the relationship between colonizers and colonized. Reflecting on the suppression of Hindu widow sacrifice by British colonialism, she writes that white men are saving brown women from brown men. In A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, she writes: “white women—from the nineteenth century British Missionary Registers to Mary Daly—have not produced an alternative understanding” (287). Spivak contends that this racist phenomenon is still alive among Western feminists.
Cesari, Jocelyne Why the West Fears Islam: An Exploration of Muslims in Liberal Democracies (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 9).
Zempi, Irene and Neil Chakraborti, Islamophobia, Victimisation, and the Veil (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Pivot, 2014, 3).
See Daniel L. Pals, Eight Theories of Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 53–84, 118–148. Nietzsche believed that there would come a day when the intellectual climate demanded proof as a requisite of belief. See The Gay Science , ed. Bernard Williams (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 109.
Cesari, Jocelyne and Sean McLoughlin, European Muslims and the Secular State (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2005, 4).
Moustafa Bayoumi, “How Does it Feel to Be a Problem?,” Amerasia Journal 27 (2001–02): 72–73.
Minoo Moallem, Between Warrior Brother and Veiled Sister: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Politics of Patriarchy in Iran (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005, 42).
Bhabha, Homi Conclusion: “Race, Time and the Revision of Modernity” in The Location of Culture (London: Routledge, 1994, 244).
Deina Ali Abdelkader, Islamic Activist: The Anti-Enlightenment Democrats (London: Pluto Press, 2011, 14–16).
Said, Edward Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1978, 3).
Zempi, Irene and Neil Chakraborti, Islamophobia, Victimisation and the Veil (New York: Palgrave Pivot, 2014, 8).
Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992, 149).
Minoo Moallem, “Am I a Muslim Woman? Nationalist Reactions and Postcolonial Transaction” in Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out , ed. Fawzia Afzal-Kahn (Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2005), 53.
Nima Naghibi, Rethinking Global Sisterhood: Western feminism and Iran (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2007, xxv).
Chow, Rey “Where have all the Natives Gone?” 326.
Foucault, Michel Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison , trans. Alan Sheridan (New York: Vintage Books, 1979, 27).
Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak? , 227.
Fekete, Liz A Suitable Enemy: Racism, Migration and Islamophobia in Europe (London and New York: Pluto Press, 2009, 93).
Ingeborg Moe, “Frp vil ha Skautforbud” in Dagbladet , 02/05/2004, under, http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2004/02/05/390132.html (accessed, 19, February, 2015). All Norwegian-English translations are my own.
Storhaug, Men Størst av alt er friheten , (Oslo, Kagge Forlag, 2006, 135–136).
Ibid., 164–165.
Jensen has drawn parallels between radical Islam and both Nazism and communism. See Arnhild Aass Kristiansen, “Kampen mot radikal Islam er vår viktigste,” in Dagbladet , 03/02/2009, under http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/03/02/nyheter/innenriks/politikk/siv_jensen/islam/5100011/ (accessed 19, February, 2015).
Hege Storhaug, “Siv Jensen, Landets ledende Feminist,” in Dagbladet , 4/10/2006, under http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/10/04/478642.html (accessed 19, February, 2015).
Siv Jensen, “Stikker hodet i sanden” in Aftenposten , 02/27/2009, under http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Stikker-hodet-i-sanden-6611564.html (accessed, February 20, 2015).
Cesari, Jocelyne “Islam, Secularism and Multiculturalism After 9/11: A Transatlantic Comparison” in European Muslims , 46.
Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?,” 298.
Talpade Mohanty, Chandra “Under Western Eyes” in Feminist Postcolonial Theory , 55.
Fremskrittspartiet, “Siv Jensen Tale Under Landsmøte 2009 Del 2 av 5.” Youtube . Online Video clip, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj2fzy90n3U (accessed 1. April 2015). Jensen's speech can be found in several newspaper articles. I chose to use the video clip in order to make my own translation.
Hirsi, Ayaan Ali, Nomad: from Islam to America—a personal journey through the clash of civilizations (New York: Atria Paperbacks, 2013), 163.
bell hooks (sic), “Sisterhood: Political Solidarity between Women” in Feminist Review 23 (June 1986): 132.
Ibid., 245.
Massad, Joseph Islam and Liberalism (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2015), 19.
See Statistisk Sentral Byrå, “Migrations, 2014,” SSB.no, under http://ssb.no/en/befolkning/statistikker/flytting/aar/2015-04-23#content (accessed, 1 April, 2015).
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty “Can the Subaltern Speak?,” 299.
Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty “French Feminism In an International Frame” in Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics , (London: Methuen, 1987).
NTB “Frp vil forby niqab og burka” in Dagbladet 02/20/2010, under, http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/02/20/nyheter/innenriks/frp/burka/10505085/ (accessed April 1, 2015).
Massad, Joseph Islam and Liberalism , 123.
Foucault, Michel Diskursens Orden , trans, Espen Schaanning (Oslo: Spartacus Forlag, A/S, 1999), 22.
Chow, Rey “Where have all the Natives Gone?,” 329.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Zempi Irene and Neil Chakraborti, Islamophobia, Victimisation, and the Veil (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Pivot, 2014), 3.

[2] Chow, Rey “Where have all the Natives Gone?” in Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader , ed. Reina Lewis and Sara Mills (New York: Routledge, 2003), 326.

[3] Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture , ed. C Nelson and L. Grossberg (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1988), 296. Spivak offers this dictum as a comment on the relationship between colonizers and colonized. Reflecting on the suppression of Hindu widow sacrifice by British colonialism, she writes that white men are saving brown women from brown men. In A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, she writes: “white women—from the nineteenth century British Missionary Registers to Mary Daly—have not produced an alternative understanding” (287). Spivak contends that this racist phenomenon is still alive among Western feminists.

[4] Cesari, Jocelyne Why the West Fears Islam: An Exploration of Muslims in Liberal Democracies (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 9).

[5] Zempi, Irene and Neil Chakraborti, Islamophobia, Victimisation, and the Veil (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Pivot, 2014, 3).

[6] See Daniel L. Pals, Eight Theories of Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 53–84, 118–148. Nietzsche believed that there would come a day when the intellectual climate demanded proof as a requisite of belief. See The Gay Science , ed. Bernard Williams (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 109.

[7] Cesari, Jocelyne and Sean McLoughlin, European Muslims and the Secular State (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2005, 4).

[8] Moustafa Bayoumi, “How Does it Feel to Be a Problem?,” Amerasia Journal 27 (2001–02): 72–73.

[9] Minoo Moallem, Between Warrior Brother and Veiled Sister: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Politics of Patriarchy in Iran (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005, 42).

[10] Bhabha, Homi Conclusion: “Race, Time and the Revision of Modernity” in The Location of Culture (London: Routledge, 1994, 244).

[11] Deina Ali Abdelkader, Islamic Activist: The Anti-Enlightenment Democrats (London: Pluto Press, 2011, 14–16).

[12] Said, Edward Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1978, 3).

[13] Zempi, Irene and Neil Chakraborti, Islamophobia, Victimisation and the Veil (New York: Palgrave Pivot, 2014, 8).

[14] Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992, 149).

[15] Minoo Moallem, “Am I a Muslim Woman? Nationalist Reactions and Postcolonial Transaction” in Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out , ed. Fawzia Afzal-Kahn (Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2005), 53.

[16] Nima Naghibi, Rethinking Global Sisterhood: Western feminism and Iran (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2007, xxv).

[17] Chow, Rey “Where have all the Natives Gone?” 326.

[18] Foucault, Michel Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison , trans. Alan Sheridan (New York: Vintage Books, 1979, 27).

[19] Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak? , 227.

[20] Fekete, Liz A Suitable Enemy: Racism, Migration and Islamophobia in Europe (London and New York: Pluto Press, 2009, 93).

[21] Ingeborg Moe, “Frp vil ha Skautforbud” in Dagbladet , 02/05/2004, under, http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2004/02/05/390132.html (accessed, 19, February, 2015). All Norwegian-English translations are my own.

[22] Storhaug, Men Størst av alt er friheten , (Oslo, Kagge Forlag, 2006, 135–136).

[23] Ibid., 164–165.

[24] Jensen has drawn parallels between radical Islam and both Nazism and communism. See Arnhild Aass Kristiansen, “Kampen mot radikal Islam er vår viktigste,” in Dagbladet , 03/02/2009, under http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/03/02/nyheter/innenriks/politikk/siv_jensen/islam/5100011/ (accessed 19, February, 2015).

[25] Hege Storhaug, “Siv Jensen, Landets ledende Feminist,” in Dagbladet , 4/10/2006, under http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/10/04/478642.html (accessed 19, February, 2015).

[26] Siv Jensen, “Stikker hodet i sanden” in Aftenposten , 02/27/2009, under http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Stikker-hodet-i-sanden-6611564.html (accessed, February 20, 2015).

[27] Cesari, Jocelyne “Islam, Secularism and Multiculturalism After 9/11: A Transatlantic Comparison” in European Muslims , 46.

[28] Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?,” 298.

[29] Talpade Mohanty, Chandra “Under Western Eyes” in Feminist Postcolonial Theory , 55.

[30] Fremskrittspartiet, “Siv Jensen Tale Under Landsmøte 2009 Del 2 av 5.” Youtube . Online Video clip, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj2fzy90n3U (accessed 1. April 2015). Jensen's speech can be found in several newspaper articles. I chose to use the video clip in order to make my own translation.

[31] Hirsi, Ayaan Ali, Nomad: from Islam to America—a personal journey through the clash of civilizations (New York: Atria Paperbacks, 2013), 163.

[32] bell hooks (sic), “Sisterhood: Political Solidarity between Women” in Feminist Review 23 (June 1986): 132.

[33] Ibid., 245.

[34] Massad, Joseph Islam and Liberalism (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2015), 19.

[35] See Statistisk Sentral Byrå, “Migrations, 2014,” SSB.no, under http://ssb.no/en/befolkning/statistikker/flytting/aar/2015-04-23#content (accessed, 1 April, 2015).

[36] Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty “Can the Subaltern Speak?,” 299.

[37] Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty “French Feminism In an International Frame” in Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics , (London: Methuen, 1987).

[38] NTB “Frp vil forby niqab og burka” in Dagbladet 02/20/2010, under, http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/02/20/nyheter/innenriks/frp/burka/10505085/ (accessed April 1, 2015).

[39] Massad, Joseph Islam and Liberalism , 123.

[40] Foucault, Michel Diskursens Orden , trans, Espen Schaanning (Oslo: Spartacus Forlag, A/S, 1999), 22.

[41] Chow, Rey “Where have all the Natives Gone?,” 329.