The Niqab and Western Society: Clash of Civilizations?

What really interests me is why we are so fixated on such a nominal issue. This aspect seems to have received little coverage, if any, even in the most self-reflecting media outlets. I think it is now pertinent to expand this debate and ask why the Niqab is perceived as such a threat to western society and culture.

 

Cultural Flashpoints

 

First I would like to turn to Samuel Huntington’s contentious clash of civilisations essay. In which Huntington responded to his former student Francis Fukuyama’s claim in The End of History and The Last Man that the end of the Cold War and the triumph of liberal democracy signalled the final stage of human development and, as such, the end of conflict. Huntington disagreed with Fukuyama’s analysis and claimed that whilst conflict between different secular ideologies had ceased, other forms of conflict, notably between different cultures would persist:

 

‘The fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations.’

 

Evidently Huntington is approaching the subject on an international level. However, the underlying theory that cultural differences are the main cause of conflict can be applied to more localised issues such as the Niqab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firstly if we accept the notion that Islam, as highlighted by Huntington, is fundamentally incompatible with Western values, we can also assume that wearing the Niqab will be the cause of friction within society. The Niqab represents the more extreme end of the Islamic spectrum and is a strong, visible signifier of this. Therefore it is reasonable to suggest, using Huntington’s logic, that wearing the Niqab is a potential flashpoint between both cultures; a sight at which a small scale clash of civilisations could take place.

However, we should be critical of this thesis. Many scholars and commentators have taken issue with the concept of a clash of civilisations. Firstly, Noam Chomsky argues that Huntington’s work should be dismissed because, as Chomsky observes, he was writing in the shadow of the end of the Cold War. A time in which Western leaders were searching for a new justification for large military spending, a justification Huntington was happy to supply:

 

‘Remember the context of Huntington’s thesis, the context in which it was put forth. This was after the end of the Cold War. For fifty years, both the US and the Soviet Union had used the pretext of the Cold War as a justification for any atrocities that they wanted to carry out. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the pretext is gone. The policies remain the same, with slight changes in tactics, but you need a new pretext.’

 

Culture in Flux

 

Chomsky’s critique works on an international level; however for a more relevant analysis we must examine the key presupposition on which Huntington bases his argument.

 

The most problematic assumption Huntington makes is that a complex and diverse culture such as the Islamic tradition is a fixed, static entity. Here it is important to differentiate between the religious aspect of Islam, which is certainly less fluid, and the cultural practices Muslims use to express their beliefs. It is evident that these practices vary widely; both in a geographic and temporal fashion. Furthermore there are also strong theological variations within Islam, not only the famous Sunni-Shia divide, but also more heterodox practices such as Sufism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The celebrated cultural theorist Stuart Hall wrote eloquently about the phenomena of cultural identity in flux in his essay Cultural Identity and Diaspora. In this work hall explains that:

 

'Cultural identity is a matter of 'becoming' as well as of 'being'. It belongs to the future as much as to the past. It is not something which already exists, transcending place, time, history and culture. Cultural identities come from somewhere, have histories. But, like everything which is historical, they undergo constant transformation. Far from being eternally fixed in some essentialised past, they are subject to the continuous ‘play' of history, culture and power.'

 

Halls’s work significantly contradicts the assumption that Islam, as it is practiced culturally, is the cause of conflict internationally or within national borders. By highlighting the fact that the Islamic tradition is culturally subjected to the same forces of change and transformation as all cultures and societies, we can directly challenge the notion that it is impossible for Islam to thrive alongside, or as part of, Western society. In fact if we accept Halls’ opinion that cultural practice has the potential to constantly reinvent itself, it would be credible to assume that Islam is perfectly capable of evolving alongside Western culture peacefully.

 

 

This negates the idea that wearing the Niqab is somehow representative of a small scale clash of civilisations. Even if we assume that the Niqab is a strong indicator for Islamic culture it should not be perceived as a threat, since Islam itself is perfectly compatible with western society. For a more credible cause of western fear towards the Niqab, we must look to our own cultural tendencies.

Rosati harem-dance

 

Cultural Envy of the Western Subconscious

 

Much has been written on the commodification of culture and on capitalism’s effect upon cultural practice in the developed world. The literature is wide; therefore we will not discuss it here. However it is important to demonstrate the ease in which marketing, in the pursuit of profit, degrades the authenticity of culture. There is an abundance of contemporary examples of this from reality television to fast food. Although that is not to suggest there are not forms of authentic culture available, however these are often dismissed as avant-garde and are becoming less available to the majority. The mass of culture available is beginning to appear as in Orwell’s 1984:

 

'Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbours, films, football, beer, and, above all, gambling, filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The process of cultural degradation has led to a perceived loss of Western Identity, particularly within white working class communities. It is important to note that whilst recognising Western culture now encompasses a variety of ethnicities, influences and practice, we are from this point discussing more anglophile elements of Western culture. It is these anglophile elements of Western culture that have received the brunt of commodification, thereby losing their authenticity and value within society.

 

The effect of this has led to a lack of cultural identity within some sectors of the community. This hollowing out of Western identity has led to a subconscious cultural envy. This envy manifests itself in a xenophobic weariness of the 'other', more authentic cultural practices such as wearing the Niqab. It is this cultural envy, not the incompatibility of Islamic culture and Western society, that is the source of Western hostility towards the Niqab.