As part of Aula Árabe Universitaria, the anthropologist and professor emeritus of Contemporary Muslim Societies with the University of Amsterdam’s Department of Anthropology, Annelies Moors, gave this conference.

It is available on our YouTube channel in Spanish (youtu.be/hyuyaBG7qxA) and in English (youtu.be/3ifj1B7rLAs).

The Netherlands’ ban on face coverings is a clear example of the gender-based racial profiling of Muslims in Europe. To justify the ban, politicians pointed to the face veil as a form of gender oppression, security threat and barrier to integration, thus blurring the lines between ethical stances, and affective and aesthetic sensitivities. Quite to the contrary, the versions told by women who cover their faces, largely ignored, emphasized the positive religious value of the veil as a symbol of faith, pointing out that the ban constitutes a violation of their freedom of religion, expression and movement by the state.

At this conference, the result of a collaborative effort by Casa Árabe and the Master’s degree in Advanced Studies on Islam in Contemporary European Society at the UCM, Annelies Moors explorates how “security” has come to the forefront of public debate, impacting the everyday experiences of veiled women, while also pointing to the more mainstream trend referred to as the “securitization” of Muslims. The event was presented by Laura Mijares, a professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid’s Department of Linguistics and Oriental Studies, and included an initial reaction by Johanna Lems, a Margarita Salas post-doctoral researcher at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The event will be moderated by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s International Relations Coordinator.

Annelies Moors is an anthropologist and professor emeritus of Contemporary Muslim Societies with the University of Amsterdam’s Department of Anthropology. She has completed extensive field work on the Middle East (Palestine and Yemen) and Europe (The Netherlands), as well as having had many articles published about Muslim family law and everyday life, Islamic fashion and anti-fashion, the use of facial veils, the use of gold and migrant domestic workers, as well as on Muslim marriages and ethics in research and ethnography. Her main theoretical interests at present revolve around gender-based racial profiling, ethnography under surveillance, the materiality and corporeality of Islam in Europe, and the politics of private relationships in Palestine.

Photo: Kat Northern Lights Man on Flickr

Further information: en.casaarabe.es/event/the-niqab-b…-do-with-security