MESA Banner
The Bulgarian Headscarf Debate: Secularism and Religious Freedoms in the Balkans
Abstract by Prof. Kristen Ghodsee On Session 229  (Voices from the Margins)

On Tuesday, November 24 at 1:00 pm

2009 Annual Meeting

Abstract
The controversy over banning headscarves in public schools has, until now, largely focused on the situations in France and Turkey where secular governments are carefully trying to maintain a thick wall between the church and state. But the issue has spilled over across the Continent, most recently in Bulgaria. As one of the European Union’s two newest member states, and the EU country with the largest Muslim minority (estimated between 13-15%), the headscarf debate has had its own local iteration in this relatively isolated southeastern European country. Beginning in 2006, several complaints regarding the issue were filed with the Bulgarian Commission for Protection from Discrimination (??????? ?????? ?? ?????????????), the new national body specifically set up to deal with human rights violations. This paper will discuss two key cases that were decided by the Commission, and how the decisions surrounding whether girls should be allowed to wear headscarves in schools have created a legal limbo wherein the state has abdicated its responsibility for interpreting the Bulgarian constitution. I will argue that although the situation in Bulgaria is surely influenced by the bans in neighboring Turkey and in France, the debates in Bulgaria are intimately intertwined with local politics and fears of a demographic collapse. Despite a public that is overwhelmingly against the headscarf in public schools, no legislation against them has been passed and as of early 2009, girls were wearing them to school freely. My paper examines why this has been the case, and whether or not Bulgaria will continue this instance of tolerance into the future. This paper is based on over a year of fieldwork in Bulgaria, and a textual analysis of all relevant Commission decisions.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Balkans
Sub Area
Balkan Studies