The Niqab in France - by Agnès de Féo (Paperback)

About the Book

An intimate look at a fiercely controversial topic in contemporary Western culture and politics: a garment--the niqab, or full-face veil--and the women who choose to wear it

Book Synopsis

This original new work is the fascinating result of sociologist and documentary filmmaker Agnès De Féo's ten-year exploration of the phenomenon of niqab wearing. It is at once a groundbreaking study and a series of compelling first-person accounts from French and Francophone women who wear or have worn the niqab in France's Salafi communities. With the backdrop of the French government's 2010 ban on full facial veiling in public spaces, which itself has shaped the phenomenon, De Féo draws on her subjects' own words to show their agency, working against the clichés that often underlie public views of the niqab--that it is purely the result of masculine pressure, for example, or extreme religiosity or nationalism, or the submissive desire to disappear. Instead, she shows, the niqab is multivalent: women wear it for reasons that range from religious piety to the desire to rebel against mainstream society, family, or the rule of law. The reasons are complex, overdetermined, contradictory, or even inconsistent, but they are the women's own.

Despite being worn only by a small minority of Muslim women, the Islamic garment has nonetheless been a major source of intense political, religious, and cultural debate in France. Searching to understand, rather than speculate, De Féo chose to approach the people who wear the niqab, and to make them, rather the veil itself, the subject of her research. Her unprecedented study, based on more than 200 interviews, reveals the many factors--social, political, geopolitical, and psychological--underpinning a personal choice that is not always as religious as it seems.

The book ends with sixteen captivating interviews giving voice to stories rarely heard. With finesse and discernment, the author debunks the myths surrounding the wearing of the niqab, and sheds light on a practice subject to misunderstanding and prejudice, offering the reader unique insight. Challenging our preconceived notions and stereotypes about women who wear any form of Islamic apparel, but particularly the niqab, The Niqab in France introduces a group of women each with her own life story, her own share of personal struggles, aspirations, and desires, and her own claim to a certain place in society.

This work received support for excellence in publication and translation from Albertine Translation, a program created by Villa Albertine.

From the Back Cover

"Current and relevant, and informed by a sensitivity and awareness of the diversity of Islamic practices."--Nima Naghibi, author of Women Write Iran

"By giving voices to French women who have chosen to wear the niqab, De Féo questions much of the conventional wisdom concerning Islam and its place in European society."--John Tolan, University of Nantes

The Niqab in France brings together a series of compelling first-person accounts of women who wear or have worn the niqab in France's Salafi communities. Against the backdrop of the French government's 2010 ban on full facial veiling in public spaces, which itself has shaped the phenomenon, Agnes De Féo draws on her subjects' own words to show their agency. The book dispels the clichés that often underlie public views of the niqab--that it is purely the result of masculine pressure, for example, or extreme religiosity or nationalism, or the submissive desire to disappear. Instead, De Féo shows, the niqab is multivalent: women wear it for reasons that range from religious piety to the desire to rebel against mainstream society, family, or the rule of law. The reasons are complex, overdetermined, contradictory, or even inconsistent, but they are the women's own.

Drawing on more than 200 interviews, The Niqab in France book explores the many factors--social, political, geopolitical, and psychological--underpinning a personal choice that is not always as religious as it seems. The book ends with sixteen captivating interviews giving voice to stories rarely heard. With finesse and discernment, the author debunks the myths surrounding the wearing of the niqab, and sheds light on a practice subject to misunderstanding and prejudice. Challenging our preconceived notions and stereotypes about women who wear any form of Islamic apparel, but particularly the niqab, The Niqab in France introduces a group of women each with her own life story, her own share of personal struggles, aspirations, and desires, and her own claim to a certain place in society.

Agnès De Féo is a sociologist affiliated with the EHESS in Paris and a documentary filmmaker.

Review Quotes

This volume is a powerful study of why women wear the niqab, or facial veil, in France.-- "Choice Reviews"

Agnès De Féo's thoughtful book explores a number of paradoxes. The French law of 2010 which sought to prohibit the niqab (facial veil) actually increased its use, as wearing it became a sign of resistance. Proponents of the law invoked women's rights and gender equality to impose a limitation on how women could dress. Niqab wearers insist that it is traditional, but its adaptation in much of the Muslim world and in Europe is a recent fruit of globalized Islam. By giving voices to French women who have chosen to wear the niqab, De Féo questions much of the conventional wisdom concerning Islam and its place in European society.---John Tolan, University of Nantes

Current and relevant, and informed by a sensitivity and awareness of the diversity of Islamic practices.---Nima Naghibi, author of Women Write Iran

About the Author

Agnès De Féo (Author)
Agnès De Féo is a sociologist and documentary filmmaker. Since 2008, she has been studying women in the Salafist movement in France and has made eight films on the subject of the niqab. Her previous work, on the Cham community in Vietnam and Cambodia from 2002 to 2012, has resulted in five documentaries as well as a book, Parlons Cham du Vietnam (2016).

Lindsay Turner (Translator)
Lindsay Turner is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Case Western Reserve University. She is the author of two collections of poetry and has translated books by Stéphane Bouquet, Éric Baratay, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Anne Dufourmantelle, Richard Rechtman, Ryoko Sekiguchi, and others.