Jocelyne Cesari, CMES Associate and Director of the Islam in the West Program, points out the contradictions and barriers to better relations with Muslims in France in “A French fair-veil, sans happy ending.” From her extensive work on Muslim communities in Europe and the US, Dr. Cesari reviews the main arguments used in the debate that led to the prohibition of the burqa and especially the security justification. She also analyzes the use of the same security argument in her August 24 piece for CNN.com on the ground zero mosque debate, "Islam is a Religion: Not a Terrorist Ideology," in which she explains the collusion between ideology and religion. As she does in her popular Harvard class, Jihad, Dr. Cesari uses her research experience and directorship of the Islam in the West program to inform her analysis of the context of the niqab issue in France and the ground zero mosque controversy.
August 25, 2010