Veiled Muslim women's views on law banning the wearing of the niqab (face veil) in public

In August 2018, Denmark became the latest European country to ban the wearing of the niqab (face veil) in public. Indeed, several European countries such as France, Belgium and Austria have already imposed a national ban on the wearing of the niqab in public on the grounds that it is a 'threat' to gender equality, integration and national security. While the wearing of the niqab has elicited a good deal of media, political and public debates, little attention has been paid to the opinions of Muslim women who wear it. Drawing on individual and focus group interviews with Muslim women who wear the niqab in the United Kingdom (UK), this article places at the centre of the debate the voices of those women who do wear it and, under the lens of Critical Race Feminism, explores their views on legislation banning the wearing of the niqab in public

Doing ‘dangerous’ autoethnography on Islamophobic victimization

This article draws on our different experiences of employing autoethnography when researching Islamophobia, using two independent research projects. In particular, we reflect upon our experiences of Islamophobic victimization as a result of being ‘visibly’ Muslim in public spaces in the UK. We discuss our motivation for employing autoethnography and the role of our insider/outsider status in adopting the role of the Muslim ‘other’ in public spaces. Additionally, we consider the nature, extent and impact of Islamophobic victimization upon ourselves, and the coping mechanisms we employed to deal with it. The article concludes by reflecting upon the advantages, ethical challenges and limitations of using autoethnography when researching Islamophobic victimization

Misogyny, racism, and Islamophobia: street harassment at the intersections

Veiled Muslim women are at an increased risk of street harassment in the current political and economic climate. Their visibility, combined with their popular portrayal as culturally dangerous or threatening means that they are vulnerable to receiving verbal and physical threats, which can be misogynistic and Islamophobic in nature. Drawing on 60 individual and 20 focus group interviews with Muslim women in the United Kingdom who wear the niqab (face veil) and had experienced harassment in public, this qualitative study details their lived experiences. It argues that an intersectional analysis is crucial to understanding the nuances of their lived experiences and the impact street harassment has on their lives. The findings demonstrate that street harassment can produce a hostile environment for veiled Muslim women, which can have a terrorizing effect, limiting their full participation in the public sphere

Veiled Muslim women’s responses to experiences of gendered Islamophobia in the UK

In a post-9/11 climate, Islamophobia has increased significantly in the UK and elsewhere in the West. ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks in the UK as well as in France, Belgium, Germany and more recently in Sri Lanka have triggered an increase in verbal and physical attacks against Muslims. Drawing on intersectionality (as a nexus of identities that work together to render certain individuals as ‘ideal’ targets to attack), veiled Muslim women are likely to experience gendered Islamophobia in the cyber world but also in ‘real’ life due to the intersections between their ‘visible’ Muslim identity and gender performance. In the British context, although Islamophobia is recorded as a hate crime nationally, and misogyny is recorded as a hate crime locally in some police forces, veiled Muslim women are unlikely to report their experiences to the police. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Muslim women who wear the niqab (face veil), the purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which they respond to experiences of gendered Islamophobia as well as their reasons for not reporting their experiences to the police

Autopsies de petites installations d'assainissement. Démantèlement de 5 des 8 filières testées sur la plateforme du CSTB dans le cadre de l'étude comparative Veolia Eau (1ère partie)

National audienceÀ l'issue de 3 ans d'alimentation en conditions connues, 5 filières d'assainissement autonome sont mises à l'arrêt. Avant de les démanteler et de libérer le site d'étude, il a semblé opportun de réaliser un état des lieux de ces dispositifs. L'idée a été d'identifier ce qui pouvait être mis en évidence au cours d'une telle intervention, dans l'optique de réalisation de diagnostics de fin de vie, ou de diagnostics de dysfonctionnement. Un protocole de démantèlement a été adapté à chaque type de système autopsié. Cette première vague d'autopsie a apporté des enseignements particulièrement intéressants sur le fonctionnement des systèmes extensifs, ainsi que plus globalement d'ordre méthodologique. Ils pourront être utilement complétés lors de la mise hors service des 3 dispositifs encore en place sur la plateforme du CSTB à Nantes, prévue en septembre 2010