The politics of the Hijab

Bronwyn Winter has better part of two decades thinking and writing about the politics of the hijab, and here in conversation with Shakira Hussein at Gleebooks they explore the issues surrounding this highly politicised garment, which are very far from simple.

An ostensibly simple piece of cloth can be one of the most controversial and divisive items in a society. In 2004, when the French Government decided to ban Muslim girls from wearing headscarfs - or hijab - to school, popular opinion split on the issue. Was it an authoritarian abuse of religious freedom? Or, was it a strike against religious ghettoisation, by a staunchly secular government? Bronwyn Winter has better part of two decades thinking and writing about the politics of the hijab, and here in conversation with Shakira Hussein at Gleebooks they explore the issues surrounding this highly politicised garment, which are very far from simple.

Bronwyn Winter is the author of "Hijab and the Republic: Uncovering the French Headscarves Debate." She is a Senior lecturer in French Studies at the University of Sydney. She is also Director of the University's International and Comparative Literary Studies program. Winter is currently working on a book that will look at how 9-11 has impacted on women's lives and on transnational feminist activism.

Shakira Hussein is a writer and researcher focusing on Islam, gender and South Asia. She is currently completing her PhD on encounters between Western and Muslim women at ANU's Centre for Asian Societies and Histories.