i
V
ISIBLY
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USLIM
EXPERIENCES OF VEILED MUSLIM STUDENTS
IN DUTCH HIGHER EDUCATIONBY ELLEKE DEES
Bachelor thesis Geografie, Planologie en Milieu (GPM) Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen 14th of August, 2017
Hijab at the Campus
Veiling and belonging of Muslim Students in Dutch Higher Education By Elleke Dees
Bachelor thesis Geografie, Planologie en Milieu (GPM) Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen August, 2017
Supervisor and first corrector: dr. O.T. Kramsch Second corrector: ……….
Student number: s4359682 Main text: 24.228 words
P
REFACE
This bachelor thesis can be regarded as the completion of my bachelor in Geography, Planning, and Environmental studies. During the writing of my thesis, I have learned many things. Not only did I improve my research qualities and my knowledge on the subjects of post-colonialism, veiling, women’s rights, the post-secular city and many other subjects within social geography, the process of writing this thesis also benefitted my personal development. I gained insight on which methods and subjects I am interested in working with, which will certainly be relevant for the choice of a master’s program. I also gained a greater personal understanding of the different ways in which Muslim women live their beliefs.
I also want to use this section to thank some of the people who have been helping me in finishing my thesis. The support and help of my supervisor, Olivier Kramsch, has been very helpful. I wish to thank him for his critical view and mode of thought, which often gave me a push in the right direction. Secondly, I wish to thank the women I interviewed. Their openness, vulnerability and the enthusiasm with which they shared their faith and a part of their personal history was not only a great contribution to my research but also taught me to see the women behind the veil. I am thankful for getting to know such beautiful women. And at last I want to thank my friends for the help, time and support they provided me with. They have been there for me in the good and the bad times and were a great help during the process to bring my thesis from scratch to the finished piece it is now.
S
UMMARY
Before I start off to introduce my thesis, I will first provide you with a summary of my work. This research addresses the experiences of veiled Islamic students within Dutch Higher Education. It does so by bringing together information from multiple sources, and analyzing these in combination with qualitative data (which is derived from interviews). The method I used is the Phenomenological study – focusing on the experience of individuals. In this summary, I will first explain my choice to focus on the Muslim veil. Next, I will discuss my research objective and my research (sub) question(s). After doing so, I will discuss the methods I used in order to achieve this objective, and I will discuss the conceptual framework that I constructed. Next, I will discuss the research results and the way these differed with my hypothesis. To conclude, I will mention the key insights as mentioned within the Discussion chapter.
I have chosen to focus on the Islamic veil because of its symbolic significance. Throughout Europe there is a growing intolerance towards Muslim practices, shaping the veil as a subject of controversy. For example, since the beginning of the 21th century many European countries have taken up laws that are banning the veil in at least some spheres of society. If topics like multiculturalism or Islam are touched upon in the everyday news coverage, pictures of veiled women are shown more often than not. The veil functions as a symbol for the non-integrated (immigrated) Muslim other. Thus the image of the veil often invokes sentiments of the veiled women being out of place and backwards compared with the modern, liberated and unveiled Dutch women. It functions as a symbol for Islamic values, which are shown to be inferior to the Western values, and as a symbol for fanatic religiosity, which is connected with atrocities such as honor killings, domestic violence and terroristic attacks.
Within this research I searched for an answer on the question how the veil influenced veiled Muslim students’ experience of the environment of the HAN (Hogeschool Arnhem en Nijmegen) and the Radboud University. Both educational institutes are located in Nijmegen, the first being an institute for applied science and the latter being an regular university. My research objective was to gain insight into the ways in which the environment of these educational institutes interacts with the experiences of veiled Muslim students. In an attempt to answer this question and to achieve my research goal, I divided my research in two parts. Firstly, I searched to answer the question ‘what embodies the practice of veiling for veiled Muslims that study at the HAN Nijmegen or the Radboud University?’. By interviewing these students, I was able to get information on the reasons why these women took up and still wore the veil. I also gathered information on the meanings and the values they give to the veil. Secondly, I interviewed these women on their experiences within the sphere of education. Doing so, I sought an answer to the question: ‘how does the sphere of the institutes for (applied) science in Nijmegen relate to the experiences of veiled Muslim students?’. I focused on the social sphere – the interactions between the women and their teachers and fellow students – as well as at the physical sphere and the way this influenced their experiences.
In order to formulate an answer to the two mentioned sub questions, I observed four research phases. These four phases of research sometimes blended, however I went through these phases more or less chronologically. I started off by spending a lot of time developing a theoretical framework that fitted with my research question: the first phase. Subsequently I gathered information on two topics in particular: the position of the Muslim veil within the Dutch society and the space of the RU and the HAN. The third research phase I interviewed veiled Muslim women that
studied at the HAN in Nijmegen or the Radboud University. During this time I also made some changes to the theoretical framework in order to sharpen my focus. The fourth phase consisted of analyzing the interviews and looking for parallels with the information I gathered on the subjects of the veil within Dutch society and the space of the HAN/RU.
During the first research phase I studied literature that belonged to diverse scientific departments in order to construct a fitting conceptual framework. Basically, the model showed multiple hypothetical relationships. First of all, I expected the meanings that were assigned to the veil by the media and within politics to influence the meanings that were assigned to the veil by teachers and students. Secondly, I expected these meanings of students/teachers to clash with the meanings that were assigned to the veil by the women themselves. I expected this clash to have a negative impact on the experience of the social environment. Thirdly, this would have an influence on the experience of the environment in general. And at last, the physical and institutional environment were expected to influence the general experience of the environment.
After analyzing the data, I found that the reasons of adopting the veil varied widely; some women follow the example of their mother or sisters, others want to please their god and again others want to commit to the behavior that is connected to taking up the veil. Most of the women had a diverse set of reasons to take up the veil. One thing that stands out is the finding that the veil has a very high, personal value for all of the women. The stories that are told by the women have in common that they all – to a greater or smaller extend – mention the idea that the veil shapes their actions and thoughts, and that the veil shapes their identity.
Since the women are very visibly Muslim, they feel a responsibility to be a good witness of their faith. Thus some of the women see their headscarf as a way of being open towards questions about their faith; the veil creates new ways of engaging conversation. On the other hand, both women that study at the HAN explained how they had feelings of unease when topics that concerned terrorism or discrimination were discussed in class. The women felt like they were being held responsible for the actions of other Muslims, because the veil seems to be looked upon as a signal of them being a representative of the Islamic faith. The women that were studying at the Radboud University experienced their fellow students as being curious and respectful towards them wearing a veil. They did not experience any negative incidents concerning the veil or concerning Muslims in general while interacting with their fellow students or with their teachers. Thus there is a distinction between the experiences of the social sphere of the HAN and the social sphere of the Radboud University.
As part of their religious practices the women use the available facilities for their daily prayers. In terms of facilities, the research reveals that – though both institutes have their own prayer-facilities – the prayer room in the University Chaplaincy is visited most often and used by all interviewed students. This facility has a special room for ritual cleansing, and is rich in additional equipment such as Qurans, prayer mats and spare garments. The RU students are content with the prayer rooms that are available at/near their own faculties, for example at the University Medical Centre. The HAN students also are content about the prayer room in the main building of the HAN. However, one of the HAN students was critical about the other prayer rooms, since the building where most of her lessons take place does not have a proper prayer room. The University Chaplaincy is exceptional in the way it facilitates Islamic prayer at the core of the Radboud campus. This follows from the Radboud University’s history as a Catholic University and the additional freedoms that belong to a “bijzondere universiteit”. Thus the Christian faith and other religions get relatively much space on the University Campus.
Thus it turned out that this friction between the meanings that were assigned to the veil by the students and the meanings that were assigned to the veil by the women themselves only occurred within the sphere of the HAN. This difference between the HAN and the RU as to the negative experience with fellow students could be due to the social and the physical settings of education. The influence of the values and meanings that were assigned to the veil by teachers was not significant in cases of both the RU and the HAN. However, my expectation that the physical environment would have an influence on the experience of the educational environment, was correct. The facilities were experienced as positively contributing to the educational environment. The physical environment had a quite direct influence on this, the institutional environment a more indirect influence. This indirect influence of the institutional environment in part is due to the RU’s history as a catholic university, which grants a special place for religion on the campus .
This research renders some useful insights in the experiences of veiled Muslim student. Besides, it adds to the knowledge on the practice of veiling, describing the meanings and values that are assigned to the veil by Muslim students. Valuable are the stories of the reasons to veil that the women themselves tell. However, the scope of the research is limited. This is because of the limited number of women that participated in the interviews. This could be due to the relative ‘whiteness’ of the HAN and the RU, and another reason might be the sensitivity of the subject. Further research could be done to the dynamics of the friction between veiled Muslim students and their fellow students, looking specifically at the influence of group size, the amount of contact hours and whether groups are fixed. Additionally, the role 0f the teacher within this friction between students can be investigated, for example by looking at the question if and how teachers can initiate healthy conversations within the educational systems of applied science. Furthermore, – taking into account the institutional history of the RU – a very relevant question would be whether this case-study is representative for the other universities and institutes for applied science.
T
ABLE OF
C
ONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND ... 1
1.1.1 Tolerance, Equality and the Other ... 1
1.1.2 The Veil: a Contested Islamic Practice ... 2
1.1.3 The Veil and Education ... 3
1.2 SOCIETAL AND SCIENTIFIC RELEVANCE ... 4
1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND QUESTION ... 5
1.4 RESEARCH MODEL ... 6
1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH ... 7
2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 8
2.1 IDENTITY AND PRACTICE ... 8
2.1.1 Defining Identity ... 8
2.1.2 Structuration theory ... 9
2.1.3 Embodied Practice ... 10
2.2 IDENTITY AND POST-COLONIALISM ... 11
2.2.1 Diversity of Identity... 12
2.3 THE SPATIAL ... 13
2.3.1 Place and the Body ... 13
2.3.2 Secularity, Religion and the Spatial ... 13
2.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ... 14
3 RESEARCH DESIGN ... 16
3.1 METHODOLOGY ... 16
3.1.1 Qualitative versus quantitative methods ... 16
3.1.2 Qualitative research methodology ... 16
3.1.3 The Phenomenological Study ... 17
3.2 RESEARCH STRATEGY ... 18
3.2.1 The Phenomenological Research Theory ... 18
3.2.2 Collection and Analysis of Interviews ... 18
3.2.3 Other Data Sources ... 19
4 THE VEIL AND DUTCH SOCIETY ... 20
4.1 MUSLIM WOMEN IN THE NETHERLANDS ... 20
4.1.1 The history of Islam in the Netherlands ... 20
4.1.2 Integration policies from 1995 till 2005 ... 21
4.1.3 Integration policies from 2007 till 2011 ... 22
4.2 EUROPE:FRAMING THE MUSLIM VEIL ... 22
4.2.1 The Emancipation frame ... 23
4.2.2 The Citizenship Frame ... 24
4.2.3 The Europeanness frame and the Culturalization of Norms ... 25
4.3 FRAMING THE VEIL WITHIN THE DUTCH POLITICAL DEBATE ... 25
4.3.1 Banning the burqa ... 26
4.3.2 “Kopvoddentax” ... 26
4.4 IDENTITY AND THE VEIL ... 27
4.4.1 The Many Faces of the Veil ... 27
4.4.3 The Veil and Identity ... 28
5 THE SPACE OF THE RU AND THE HAN ... 30
5.1 EXPLORING NIJMEGEN ... 30
5.2 THE RADBOUD UNIVERSITY ... 30
5.2.1 The University as a Bijzondere Universiteit ... 30
5.2.2 The University campus ... 31
5.3 THE HANNIJMEGEN ... 33
6 RESEARCH RESULTS ... 35
6.1 SUB QUESTION 1:NARRATIVES CONCERNING THE VEIL ... 35
6.1.1 A Godly Decree ... 35
6.1.2 A Protecting Reminder ... 36
6.1.3 A Lasting Responsibility ... 37
6.2 SUB QUESTION 2: THE INTERACTION BETWEEN ENVIRONMENT AND EXPERIENCE ... 37
6.2.1 The Social Environment ... 38
6.2.2 The Physical Environment ... 40
6.2.3 The Institutional Environment ... 41
7 CONCLUSION ... 43
8 DISCUSSION ... 46
8.1 RESULTS AND EXPECTATIONS... 46
8.2 RESEARCH PROCESS AND LIMITATIONS ... 47
8.3 RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUMMARY ... 48
REFERENCE LIST ... 49
FIGURES ... 49
LITERATURE ... 49
1
1 I
NTRODUCTION
1.1
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
1.1.1 Tolerance, Equality and the OtherWhen traveling from the Bijlmermeer, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Amsterdam, to the Dam, one of the most popular touristic spots in Amsterdam, one is constantly confronted with the distinct and diverse manifestations of Dutch multiculturalism. This multiculturalism stems from a history of immigration ever since the Golden Age, with more recently – from the 1950’s up to now – the influx of immigrants from former colonies, guest workers and the still ongoing stream of refugees. The Dutch population now consists of about 8.8 per cent of non-Western immigrants. Thus, the Netherlands harbors a multiplicity of cultural and religious practices and has a history of great tolerance towards immigrants (Pellenbarg & Van Steen, 2015; Zorlu & Hartog, 2001). This history of tolerance is related to liberal thought, which is rooted within many components of the Dutch society and other Western European societies. Likewise, the liberal principle of equality is highly valued. Political liberties such as freedom of speech, but also sexual freedom, are perceived to be of utmost importance as well.
However, a current trend is, for example, sexual freedom being instrumentalized and used to wage cultural assaults on Islam. Framing the enlightened values of Western Europe as being opposed to the “backward culture” of Islam, Muslim immigrants in Europe are expected to adopt the values of the national “Western European tradition”. Often this means that Muslim immigrants have to adopt values which are embedded in the institutional history of the country. In the Netherlands, this means an emphasis on sexual freedom, which is seemingly equated to modernity (Fekete, 2006; Butler, 2008). Thus, exactly the progressive and liberal values of tolerance, equality, and sexual freedom are used to justify “Islamophobia”, as the non-western Muslim immigrant, with his or her practices, is seen as a threat to these liberal values (Helbling, 2014). The position of the Muslim woman within the public space is especially connected to this fear of ‘the Other’. Being non-white and often wearing a veil, the Muslim woman is seen as non-European, not in place and backwards (Tarloo, 2010; Said, 1979). These negative attitudes towards non-Muslim citizens are not only growing among those who are typically intolerant; they are also growing among those who are usually tolerant towards other out-groups and who identify as liberal. This form of liberalism is named “illiberal-liberalism” (Gustavsson et al, 2016; Brünig & Fleischmann, 2015).
Something that could add to this intolerance are the current waves of terrorism that are sparking within Europe. Besides a cultural divide, the current state of affairs concerning the fear for terrorist attacks is fanning the flames of the often tense situation of seemingly failed integration policies and the unrest concerning certain Islamic practices. In the post-9/11 society, radical Islam is often identified with terrorism (Beaumont, 2010). As Wessler, Rinke and Löb (2016, p. 314) state in their article on the use of media since Charlie Hebdo:
“We live in a “religio-secular age” (Marty, 2003; Miller, 2008). Different religions and different variants of secularism coexist (see Göle, 2010), certainly on a global scale but often even in individual societies. This situation can be explosive, as the terror attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo as well as on Jews and law enforcement officers in Paris on 7 January 2015 sadly remind us.”
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This theory of a religio-secularist society describes how individuals, groups and societies “blur, mesh, meld, and muddle together elements of both the secular and the religious” in the modern society (Marty, 2003, p. 42). This coexistence of religion and secularism within society certainly causes tension, especially with culturally distanced religions. Even apart from the fear of terrorism, negative attitudes towards Muslims are increasing in the Netherlands as well as in other European countries (Gustavsson et al, 2016; Brünig & Fleischmann, 2015).
1.1.2 The Veil: a Contested Islamic Practice
Contemporary research focuses on the aforementioned attitudes of illiberal-liberalism. It should hardly be a surprise that this intolerance towards the “Muslim other” is reflected in debates concerning the Muslim veil (Gustavsson et al, 2016). Because of the visibility of the veil, this might be one of the clearest views of both multiculturalism and religious Islam. Throughout Western Europe, the veil is framed in multiple ways within the public and political debate. The veil is sometimes shunned in the media by (extreme) right parties, such as the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands, but is also framed as being imposed upon women by their male relatives or Imams, as a sign of fundamentalism or as a sign of failed integration (Andreassen & Lettinga, 2012, pp. 18-19). Since the 1990’s the veil has increasingly led to controversy within the European societies. The societal debate has been centered around the question whether certain types of the veil should be banned. The political and societal debate within the Western world started with the ban on the headscarf in Turkey in the 1990’s. The debate was renewed in 2004, after France’s ban on wearing religious signs in schools. Controversies concerning the headscarf led to accommodating regulations in some countries, and non-regulating or even restricted headscarf regulations in others. These regulations are another sign of the increasing negative attitudes and increasing intolerance against Muslims (Rosenberger & Sauer, 2012; Brünig & Fleischmann).
The opposition between the Enlightenment values and Islamic values, as mentioned before, adds fuel to the debate about the headscarf. As Lorasdağı states: “the headscarf is regarded as a
marker of the inferior status of women in Muslim societies and a threat to the achievements of the Enlightenment” (Lorasdağı, 2009, p. 453). It is an almost essentialist perspective in which Western
societies claim their values to be solely just. In this perspective, the liberal, free, equal, emancipated Dutch society is put into contrast with the Dutch perception of Islamic values as being backward, barbaric and for religious fanatics. This perception is connected with honor killings, the headscarf, and domestic violence, and as a result Muslim women are victimized and the western values are framed as their only salvation (Lorasdağı, 2009). This essentialist view of the veiled women as uneducated, restricted and victimized does not do justice to the diversity and agency of these women.
This diversity of Muslim women in Europe is even visible in their style of veiling. The way women veil differs greatly according to place, ethnicity, and custom. The veil and the style of veiling often embodies more than just religiosity. It is also a personal choice of acceptance or rejection of certain values, it is an embodiment of identity (Ghodsee, 2008; Tarloo, 2010). The most common ways of veiling are the hijab, burqa, jilbab, and niqab. Muslim women in Western European countries mostly wear the style of the hijab. The name hijab is often used to describe various types of wearing a headscarf which covers the hair and ears and possibly the neck (Ghodsee, 2008; Rosenberger & Sauer, 2012). Within my thesis, I will use the word ‘veil’ if I’m referring to veiling in general, when a
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distinction between types of veiling is not relevant. When talking about a certain type of veiling I will name the specific way of veiling; e.g. ‘the hijab’, ‘the burqa’, ‘the niqab’.
Figure 1. Channel4, 22 October 2013, “from Hijab to Burqa, a guide to Muslim headwear”
The debates addressing the veil are complex due to the (unconscious) framing in politics, the interwovenness of arguments, a lack of research and knowledge, and due to current scientific findings that need to be further integrated into scientific knowledge.
1.1.3 The Veil and Education
Much of the contemporary research that focussed on the Netherlands, looked at policies which concern the veil, concern the attitude towards the veil within the political or public debate, or are aimed to describe the ways in which the veil is framed. On the subject of the question why women veil, research is limited but growing. One aspect of expanding the knowledge on the practice of veiling by Dutch Muslim women is see veiling as a religious practice as well, and to not only view veiling as a cultural practice (Brünig & Fleischmann, 2015). A recent contribution to this knowledge is the first quantitative research on the practice of veiling in the Netherlands, which was published in 2015. In this research called “understanding the veiling of Muslim Women in the Netherlands”, Brünig and Fleischmann (2015) investigated to what extend certain characteristics could explain the practice of (un)veiling of Moroccan and Turkish self-identified Muslims. The aim of the research was to see if effects of secularization (which was defined as changing religiosity) influenced veiling. Brünig and Fleischmann explained that the secularization theory is divided into two approaches: one looks at the influence of the scientific worldview as learned through education, the other looks at the effects of social integration. Both approaches were tested in the research of Brünig and Fleischmann. The influence of the scientific worldview was tested by looking at education and the effect of social integration was tested by looking at the measure of contact with non-Muslims.
The research showed that there is no strong evidence for a straightforward secularizing effect of education; veiling is likely to persist despite increasing levels of education. However, this research showed some new insights concerning the influence of secularization on veiling. First of all, more complex reasons for veiling need to be taken into account, for example veiling as cultural resistance or as identity building. Secondly, the research showed that if social integration increased, the positive relation between religious identification and veiling was suppressed. This could indicate
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that increasing social integration would lead to a change of the experience of religion. The women still identify with Islam, but they have a more liberal concept of the role of veiling.
Yet, one can pose the question if the characteristic of contact with natives is a reason for or a
result of unveiling. Another aspect which might be questioned is the use of secularization theory.
Brünig and Fleischmann define secularization as a change of religiosity, not a decline in religiosity, and thus their concept of secularization does not necessarily measure only those who become more secular. It also measures those whose faith ‘evolves’; whose interpretation of certain aspects of religion change but who would still describe themselves as being Muslim. For example, the second generation migrants could have a different interpretation of their religion than their parents, and though secular thought might have impacted the evolvement of their faith, what they believe in itself is not secular. According to the theory of Brünig and Fleischmann, secularization can influence religious identification through education and through social relations. The theory of religio-secularity could be valuable in looking at the influence of the different spheres of education on religious identification, especially since some educational institutes in the Netherlands have a religious background and others a secular background.
As is mentioned above, recently there is an increasing attention for the question why women veil and for the role of identity and society within this practice. Especially the research about the
reasons of veiling is valuable, since it gives the women who veil a voice within the debate. However,
some argue there is too much talk about these women, and not enough talking with and by these women. The research of Brünig and Fleischmann (2015) and Lorasdağı (2009) was useful in doing exactly that; it added valuable knowledge to the practice of veiling by Muslim students in the Netherlands, looking at why they veil.
Their research also raised quite some questions for further scientific research and stirred up a personal interest with me for the practice of veiling within education, for this is a very familiar sphere in which my interests for religion, science, and gender meet. I wondered what results wearing a headscarf within the space of education would have on the experiences of Muslim students. Does it impact the extent to which they feel like they belong or the amount to which they feel a stranger, they feel out of place? The concepts of belonging, feeling in or out of place and of strangeness involve the idea of inclusion or exclusion from a certain social system. After all, the idea of membership – often seen as a binary relation – is of a more gradual classification within a social system such as education (Stichweh, 1997). Thus I became interested in researching how the practice of veiling interacts with the experience of the educational sphere. This question forms the heart of my research. In the next paragraphs, I will explain what this research contributes to science and society (1.2), and I will explain my research goal, main question and sub-questions (1.3), my research model (1.4) and the structure of my research (1.5).
1.2
SOCIETAL AND SCIENTIFIC RELEVANCE
Extending the knowledge on veiling within the educational space is beneficial for multiple reasons. First of all, the Muslim students themselves get a voice in the discussion on the headscarf. This is achieved by letting the students describe what embodies the meaning and value of the veil for them. The focus on the experience of the practice of veiling also focuses on the voices of the women themselves. Those who veil are often left out of the discussion, so this research thus enriches the societal debate on the headscarf.
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Secondly the research contributes to an increased knowledge on the practice of veiling within the Dutch Universities of (applied) science, and specifically within the environment of the HAN Nijmegen and the Radboud University. However, the research not only contributes to knowledge on the interaction between veiling and the educational environment. The experiences of veiled female Muslim students within these educational institutes have never been researched before, so the research also contributes to this topic. The research also increases the knowledge on the reasons why women veil, and on the values and meanings they assign to the practice of veiling.
Thirdly, the research extends the knowledge on the way policy and the institutional sphere of education influences the experiences of minority students, in this case Muslim students. This information is useful for the evaluation of policies and is very valuable within discussions and decision-making of the Board of the HAN Nijmegen and the Radboud University. Thus the research also contributes to society.
1.3
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND QUESTION
The objective of the research is mainly theoretical, to add knowledge to the discussion on the practice of veiling within institutions of (applied) science in the Netherlands. Since research on this topic is still scarce, I will have the opportunity to add new knowledge. The objective of the research will be to gain insight into the ways in which the environment of scientific educational institutes interact with the experiences of veiled female Muslim students.
The objective of my research can be divided into three aspects. In order to gain insight in the ways in which the educational institute influences the feeling of belonging of veiled Muslim students, the research first of all extends the knowledge on the values and meanings that the students themselves assign to the veil. Secondly it will extend the knowledge on the way that veiled female Muslim students experience the sphere of the educational institute. Thirdly it extends the knowledge on the way the educational institutes interacts with the experiences of the veiled Muslim students.
The main question that will be answered within this research is:
How does the wearing of a veil by female Muslim students influence the experience of the environment of the HAN Nijmegen and the Radboud University?
Consequently, I have formulated the following sub-questions:
1. What embodies the practice of veiling for veiled female Muslim students of the HAN Nijmegen and the Radboud University?
This sub-question aims at giving a clear view of why Muslim students of the HAN and the Radboud University veil. It looks at the values they give to the veil, and it looks at what it means for them in their everyday life.
2. How does the sphere of the institutes for (applied) science in Nijmegen relate to the experiences of veiled Muslim students?
Here I will look at the experiences of the veiled Muslim students with the educational sphere of the HAN and the Radboud University. I will look at the social sphere, focusing on interactions with students and teachers, and at feelings of belonging of the women. I will also discuss the influence of the physical sphere on these feelings and experiences.
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Thus I hope to gain insight into the influence of the educational sphere on the experiences and feelings of belonging of the women.
Bringing together the meanings that the women attach to the wearing of the veil, and the experiences of these women within the educational sphere will enable me to answer the main research question.
1.4
RESEARCH MODEL
In order to research the link between the educational institute and the feeling of belonging of veiled students in Nijmegen, I set up a research model which shows the research process. This is shown in figure 2.
This research model shows the four phases of my research. The first phase, Phase a, mainly involves studying the literature on the subject of the practice of veiling within educational institutes and the literature on the practice of veiling with a focus on identity. This literature has been used for the setting up of my interview guides from certain concepts which I found. It was also used for making a theoretical framework. In Phase b I conducted and transcribed interviews, for which I used the literature, and I looked at policy documents and information of the educational institutes of the HAN and the Radboud University. In the third phase, Phase c, I analyzed the collected data. In the last phase, I drew conclusions from the results of the analysis and I looked back at the research process.
For carrying out my research I made use of a Phenomenological study, this will be further discussed in chapter 3: Methodology. The educational institutes that I chose for this study are the Hogeschool Arnhem and Nijmegen (HAN) and the Radboud University Nijmegen (RU). I conducted interviews with veiled Muslim women that study at either of these institutes. In chapter 3 I will further elaborate on the methodology and the carrying out of this research as well.
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1.5
STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH
This chapter has been dedicated to introducing my research subject and my research objective, research questions and research model. Chapter two covers the Theoretical Framework, discussing amongst other theories about the subjects of identity, embodied practice, space and secularism. At the end of this chapter, I also discuss my conceptual model. The third chapter discusses the methodology. I also will explain how, when and where I carried out my research. In the fourth chapter I will give an overview of the frames, debates and theories that concern the veil. I also will briefly discuss the case study of the HAN Nijmegen and the Radboud University. In the fifth chapter I will discuss the results of my research. Here I will give an answer to the posed sub-questions. The sixth chapter, ‘Conclusion and Discussion’, will be the final chapter, and here I will further explain the outcomes of my research by answering my main question. I also will connect the research results to the theory as discussed in chapter three, and I will discuss the conceptual model by critically comparing the model to my research outcomes. I will then reflect on the research method and the research process, and conclude by making some recommendations for further research.
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2 T
HEORETICAL
F
RAMEWORK
Here I will discuss theories that are connected to my research, in order to come to a better understanding of – and the relationship between – the practice of veiling and the interaction of veiled women with their environment. The theories will cover a range of topics, starting with a discussion of the way identity is constructed, and discussing the way identity and practice are interwoven, in paragraph 2.1. In paragraph 2.2, I will continue to talk about post-colonial theories that criticize and add to identity theory in paragraph 2.3. Next, in paragraph 2.3, I will discuss the role of the spatial, and connect theories on the spatial with the theories on the body, identity, and secularism.
2.1
IDENTITY AND PRACTICE
In this chapter of the theoretical framework I will discuss identity and practice, and the interaction between these two concepts. In paragraph 2.1 I will introduce and define the concept of identity and the way practices and agency are connected to this concept. I will further discuss the concept of agency in paragraph 2.1.2 by looking at the interplay of structure and agency according to structuration theory. In paragraph 2.1.3 I will discuss the concept of embodied practice, and compare the ideas of Schatzki and Foucault on this subject.
2.1.1 Defining Identity
Richard Jenkins starts his book on social identities by stating that all human identities are social identities; that is, all identities are constructed by the meaning that we or others assign to it. This is a process of interaction since meaning is being negotiated and communicated (2004, p. 4). Atkinson, Jackson, Sibley and Washbourne discuss in their 2005 paper how the definition of identity has been challenged by developments within the fields of among others psychoanalysis and postcolonial and feminist thought. Due to this contestation of the concept of identity, we no longer see identity as an internally whole being which we should be able to represent more or less accurately. Instead, identity has become understood to be temporal, spatially variable, intrinsically plural and contradictory. We no longer look at features such as reason, class position or racial characteristics in order to detect identity; we now see identity as a fractured, overlapping, sometimes unstable condensation of various social influences (Atkinson, Jackson, Sibley, & Washbourne, 2005, p. 99). Thus identity is seen as fluid and changing instead of fixed. This resonates in Jenkin’s work as he states that: “identity can only be understood as a process, as ‘being’ or ‘becoming’. One’s identity –
one’s identities, indeed, for who we are is always singular and plural – is never a final or settled matter”
(2004, p. 5).
Our identities enable us to act, and to a certain degree we can change our identity by our actions. This is called agency. But at the same time, our identity restricts us, as Weir writes:
“identities are both sources and ends of freedom, and identities are the shackles that imprison us”
(2013, p. 2). For our identity is not only subject to the meaning we ourselves assign to it. It is also subject to the meaning that others assign to it. And besides that, identity is always embedded within structures of power. By naming and classifying, identity shapes and is shaped, and the structures of society influence the distribution of this power to name and classify our own identities and those of others (Weir, 2013; Jenkins, 2004, p. 5).
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It is as with Bourdieu’s concept of habitus. The concept of habitus means a “characteristic
way of thinking, feeling, acting and experiencing shared by all members of a certain group of people”
(Inglis & Thorpe, 2012, p. 213). The habitus does not determine certain practices, instead, it creates possibilities for action, but only a limited set. This is how our identity can restrict us, as Weir writes. This limited set of possibilities brings us to the concept of choice. It is in the act of choosing that you become an agent, author of your actions (Korsgaard, 2009). Or, as Atkinson, Jackson, Sibley and Washbourne state it: “identities are practical achievements, expressed through material as well as symbolic means” (2005, p. 89). Thus your actions shape your identity – and vice versa. What lies underneath the choice of certain actions is what Korsgaard calls the ‘conception of practical identity’:
“our conceptions of our practical identity govern our choice of actions, for to value yourself in a certain role or under a certain description is at the same time to find it worthwhile to do certain acts for the sake of certain ends, and impossible, even unthinkable, to do others” (Korsgaard,
2009, p. 20).
Thus the conception of our practical identities is closely tied to what roles we value in life and the meaning we give to certain aspects of our identity, and this is shaping the way we act. Korsgaard continues by describing Kant’s idea of two factors being involved in every action. This is the incentive and the principle. The incentive presents the action as eligible; the principle determines whether the act will be chosen or not. The conception of our practical identity is the source of these incentives and principles, and as Korsgaard describes: “our practical identities are, for the most part,
contingent”. We are born into some, we choose others for reasons, and still others we adopt
voluntary but without adequate reason. For the actions which result from the conceptions of our practical identity depend on the family we are born into, the people we meet, the talents and likes we have, the place or nation we live in, and sometimes on sheer coincidence.
Thus our identities are multiple, always in process, always becoming, shaped by the meanings that are attributed to it by ourselves and others. There is a contestation of power by naming and labeling, and there is a continuous shaping interplay between our identity and our actions. The conception of our practical identity is formed by what we value in life, what roles we deem important. This conception of our practical identity and the basis of our values and meanings in life are shaped by the specific time, space, culture and circumstances we live in.
2.1.2 Structuration theory
Above I briefly introduced the concepts of structure and agency. In social theory these concepts are often paired together. The interaction between structure and agency is a key theme many social theories deal with, discussing the relationship between social structures and individuals’ actions. The concepts of structure and agency seem exclusive and contradicting, and they are in some social theories. However, other social theories see structure and agency as intertwined and as such reproducing and transforming society (Inglis & Thorpe, 2012, pp. 8-9). For instance, Wagemaker and De Koning argue that the structure of society results from the collective agency of people, which is always framed by multiple structures. Thus, they argue, there is a constant interaction between structure and agency (2015, p. 13).
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A social theory similar to this idea of constant interaction is Structuration Theory, its most important theorists being Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu (Inglis & Thorpe, 2012, p. 208). Structuration theory is one of multiple theories within social thought that try to reconcile how societies are made by the actions of individuals, while taking into account that structures shape those actions and individuals at the same time. According to Structuration Theory, these two forces – respectively social transformation and social reproduction – shape society together. Other social theories also acknowledge this, but often put more stress on either of them. Structuration theory seeks to prevent putting too much stress on agency, as the subjectivists do, and putting too much stress on structure, as the objectivists d0 (Inglis & Thorpe, 2012, p. 208).
Nevertheless, within Structuration theory Bourdieu’s theory has the tendency to emphasize
social reproduction, while Giddens’theory still has the tendency to emphasize social transformation. (Inglis & Thorpe, 2012, p. 210; Weir, 2013, p.2). With regard to social reproduction, Bourdieus’ focus lies at the reproduction of inequality, or, as Inglis and Thorpe state, on the “nature and operation of forms of domination”. Bourdieu thus emphasizes the power of structures in reproducing inequality. Giddens’ focus lies more on the diagnosis of contemporary social and cultural change. Central to Giddens’ theory is the concept of the ‘duality of structure’. This concept describes how structures enable and shape practice, though at the same time practices reproduce (and thus maintain) or
change these structures. Thus actors can exercise agency in and through their practices (Inglis &
Thorpe, 2012, pp. 210-211).
When looking at Giddens’ Structuration Theory and the way it stresses agency and social transformation, it is good to keep in mind the power of structures. It is Foucault who uses the metaphor of the prisoner when discussing the way the individual is embedded within certain structures, reminding us of how Weir writes that some aspects of our identities can be the shackles that imprison us. The different versions of structuration as put forward by Giddens and Bourdieu, have in common that they both share a focus on social practices. Within their theories, these practices are everyday activities which are routinized. Both social theorists see a practice as
semi-conscious; people know how to do a certain practice, but this practice is done without constantly
thinking about it. This stress on semi-conscious practices is also important in Phenomenological Theory, as will be discussed in the Methods chapter.
2.1.3 Embodied Practice
Though Structuration Theory successfully explains the interplay of social reproduction and social transformation within the structures of society, the importance of place and the body within this interplay are greatly neglected. The body is not just an empty shell of the self; place and the body are relevant factors that influence the way identity takes form. This is something that can be seen as a flaw of structuration theory: it fails to create a complete description of the mechanisms of society by leaving out the very relevant aspects of place and the body. The idea of embodied identity captures these aspects. Jenkins underlines the importance of the body (being grounded in time and space) when he says that: “embodied individuals are the time-space coordinates of minds and
selves and are thoroughly and reciprocally implicated in, and constitutive of, human relationships and the human world” (Jenkins, 2004, p. 39).
Not only is identity inherently embodied; practice also always takes place as part of or acted by a body. Schatzki describes practices as “bodily doings and sayings”, stressing exactly this importance of the body. His practice approach looks at the individual meanings of a practice that is being carried out by multiple actors, reminding us of Jenkins’ approach of identity that also focused
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on meaning and values ( Schatzki, 2001; Jenkins, 2004). He sees practices as “embodied, materially
mediated arrays of human activity centrally organized around shared practical understanding”. Here,
‘embodied’ emphasizes the idea that “the forms of human activity are entwined with the character of
the human body” (Schatzki, 2001, p. 11). This focus on the embodiment of practices is very relevant
when looking at a practices such as religious veiling, since this practice happens strictly along the lines of gender and is thus very closely connected to the body. Veiling is not only a religious practice, it is also a gendered practice. Another interesting part of his definition of a social practice is his focus on a shared understanding. This raises questions. What results from a situation where a certain practice does not exist within a scope of mutual understanding? What are the results of a social practice on ‘outsiders’? Is it the lack of mutual understanding that causes unease or resistance to a certain practice, be it religious veiling or being a vegetarian?
Foucault has a very different view on embodied – or bodily – practices. He uses the term
biopower to picture the way in which the adoption of self-disciplinary bodily practices leads to
submitting oneself. Power, as Foucault uses the term, is intrinsic to social relations. Power is embedded in all relationships within society, embedded within practices, institutions and knowledge. As such, a certain discourse of knowledge with corresponding norms will raise an incentive within individuals to conform. Because of this wish forconformity, one is quicker to take up a self-disciplinary practice – especially self-regulating bodily practices that concern hygiene, health and sexuality (Pylypa, 1998). Foucault’s conception of biopower is more focussed on social reproduction than on social transformation as he views bodily practices to be intrinsically bound to power structures.
To sum up, Schatzki’s approach is useful for this research because it puts embodied practice at the core of the understanding of the social (Gram-Hanssen, 2009). His approach is concerned with the multiple meanings that can be attributed to a practice, but also looks at the way these meanings relate to mutual understanding. Thus, both personal agency (allocating certain values) and the structures of society are being examined. Foucault’s theory on the other hand emphasizes the embeddedness of agency within society’s structures of knowledge and power. It looks to bodily practices in a way that focuses greatly on structures that oppress and constrain individuals. This scope is useful to keep in mind, though in my research focuses more on the values and meanings allocated to the practice of veiling. The understanding of Structuration Theory can be useful as a tool to keep in mind both personal agency and embeddedness within society’s structures. It is good to take into account biopower and the way it influences the lives of those who take up these self-disciplinary bodily practices. On the other hand, it is also very important to look at the ways in which people exert their agency. When looking at this exertion of agency within practices, Schatzki’s approach – that looks at the meanings that are allocated to the practices – can be valuable.
2.2 IDENTITY AND POST-COLONIALISM
The post-colonial discourse has been very influential within the social studies. Especially on the subject of identity many critiques and new theories has been written since the start of decolonization. In this chapter of the Theoretical Framework, I will discuss some of the critiques of the post-colonial discourse and I will discuss theories of identity that connect to or belong to the post-colonial discourse.
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In the past decades, the issue of cultural difference has become of great importance within feminist theory. From the 1960’s and onwards, black feminist thought influenced mainstream feminist thought by addressing the idea of intersectionality, thus stressing the importance of racial and cultural differences. Many black women felt they had to pick their identities; they felt like they only could be suffering from sexism or from racism, never both. They felt obliged to choose either the side of civil rights or the side of women’s rights (Falcon, 2009). Intersectionality stresses the importance of intersecting structures of for example gender, class and color, thus gaining greater understanding for the position of black women within feminist thought. Black, lower class, gay and non-western feminists also placed question marks at the way the often white, heterosexual, upper class and western feminists defined the concepts of freedom and equality. This critical stream of thought combined feminist critiques of imperialism, colonialism, and racism. An important question within contemporary critical feminist thought remains whether values of freedom are culturally bound (Weir, 2013).
It is in trying to cope with the diversity of culture and identity that social theorists started to use the concept of lived experience. The analysis of the lived experience of a person involves listening to their view on certain daily experiences and has been used as a method in reaction to the blotting out of locally constructed knowledge within feminism. For it was the diversity of ethnicity, class, and age that raised criticism on the idea that the Western conception of values such as freedom and equality was universal. The early feminist idea of the universality of certain values elevated feminist principles of the Western world, while criticizing certain non-western practices. On the other hand, the counter movement of radical cultural essentialism took away any tool to criticize certain cultural practices (Weir, 2013).
To illustrate this problem of the contesting values of the Western culture and other cultures, Weir gives an example from Mahmood’s work. Mahmood shows how the feminist ideal of individual freedom is questioned, by looking at examples of Muslim women who go to the mosque in Cairo. These women resist against gender norms which are keeping them from gaining religious knowledge, and they challenge the male-dominance in religious spheres. However, they also are subordinate by freely adopting the feminine virtues such as shyness, modesty, and humility. These women do challenge certain norms and gain freedom, but at the same time, they obey other norms subordinately. Weir briefly explains and sums up Mahmood’s analysis as following:
“Mahmood is arguing, then, that we need to see [these women] … as agents engaged in
practices of self-realization that we westerners – and we feminists – can recognize as good lives, even though they conflict with our ideals of freedom.” (Weir, 2013, p. 121)
Repeating Mahmood’s recommendation, I think it is important to keep in mind the importance of cultural difference and of conflicting ideas of being free. A few years before Mahmood’s 2005 article on the Egyptian case-study, she already wrote about the importance for Western scholars and feminist to look beyond the question if a certain practice gives legitimacy to women’s subordination. She reasoned we should look at the significance of a certain practice instead, by seeing the practice or tradition as being inextricably linked to the desires, motivations and aspirations of the women (Mahmood, 2001, p.225). This focus on the value of the practice for the women themselves is a valuable scope for my research, since it moves away from the societal debate that often judges religious veiling as infringing equality and fundamental freedoms. This
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scope that Mahmood recommends for researchers resonates in some of the recommendations that are written within the post-colonialist discourse.
2.3
THE SPATIAL
The theories mentioned above mostly explore matters of identity and practices. In the next paragraph I want to look at theories that look at space and place, and I want to look at the ways in which these theories combine identity, practice and the spatial. However, before turning to the discussion of the shaping of identity by the spatial, I want to clarify the concept of place.
2.3.1 Place and the Body
First, I would like to point at one specific aspect of Mahmood’s analysis: her use of the concept of
embodied agency. Poststructuralist theorists such as Foucault see the body as “a surface to be etched by cultural and social systems or discourses” (Atkinson et al., 2005, p. 93). Thus the body is the place
where structure and agency become visible. Looking at bodily practices, Mahmood’s concept of embodied agency describes the conscious making of the self. She argues that the bodily practices are part of a conscious process (Weir, 2013). Directly connected to the body is the concept of space, for bodies are always placed within a certain spatial and social context. Mahmood does not include space in her definition of the concept, but by including the body, space is included too.
Just like identity and the body are intertwined, so are the body and space. Bodies and spaces are mutually constituted, for “it is impossible to talk about bodies without talking about space, and vice
versa” (Atkinson et al., 2005, p. 93). Atkinson, Jackson, Sibley and Washbourne explain that
questions of identity and belonging are both spatially and socially constructed (2005, p.90). Just as Mahmood’s example of the Muslim women of Cairo going to their mosque, the practice of veiling is an excellent example of this social and spatial interwovenness of identity and the body. Veiling is part of a concious process, where women shape their identity by wearing a veil. This is a bodily practice that is adapted in some – but not all – spaces. Mahmood’s concept of embodied agency covers much of the interwovenness of the practices, identity and the body. The only part Mahmood fails to cover with this concept is the interwovenness of space and practices, identity and the body. But what exactly do I mean when I speak of space and place? In the next paragraph I first will discuss these concepts.
2.3.2 Secularity, Religion and the Spatial
At the end of the 20th century, a post-secular turn in continental philosophy sparked a renewed interest in the role of religion in society and politics. This turn focused around critics of the secularization thesis. They claimed the assumption of total secularization was incorrect, instead urban societies were thought to be plural in religion, faith and believe. The post-secular thus was thought to embody the interrelation between religious, humanist and secularist dimensions (Beaumont, 2010, pp. 4-7). According to Habermas´ post-secularism, the idea of secularism (which said religion didn’t play a role in public affairs) was corrected by emphasizing how religions do have a role in modern society; it are “sources of meaning and moral norms which modern societies cannot do
without” (Gräb, 2010, p. 113). Thus the importance of the religious within institutions, communities
and the city as a whole was stressed by scholars of social and political theory. This idea of post-secularism covers the meaning of the term ‘religio-post-secularism’, the mixing of secular and religious
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elements within (groups of) society. One of those scholars who discusses secularism and the idea of religio-secularism in her work, is Judith Butler.
Before turning to her critical comments on secularism, I want to mention a few insights she shares on the subject of the Modernity-narrative of the Western world. The Modernity-narrative has certain spatial and temporal presumptions which are critically discussed by Butler (2008). As mentioned in the introduction, the conception of freedom (both sexual freedom and freedom of artistic expression) is used to drive a wedge between ideas of modernity and secularity, and (extremist) religious minorities. Butler explains this relation between modernity, liberal freedoms and cultural degradation as follows:
“...liberal freedoms are understood to rely upon a hegemonic culture, one that is called ‘modernity’ and relies on a certain progressive account of increasing freedoms. This uncritical domain of ‘culture’ that functions as a precondition for liberal freedom in turn becomes the cultural basis for sanctioning forms of cultural and religious hatred and abjection” (Butler, 2008, p.6)
This hegemonic position of modernity brings to attention certain ideas of Islam. This is where the modernity-narrative is brought into focus again. This narrative involves the idea that the Western world is the image of freedom and modernity. Modernity indicates progress, which involves a certain conception of time. Complementary is the idea that Islam is in a childish state of development, with secular modernity as the fully developed parent. Certain cultures and minority communities are conceived as being of another time, outside of secular time.
Apart from criticizing the Modernity-Narrative, Butler also looks critically at secularization itself. Butler suggests that there is no one secularism, “since the diversity of secularisms often gain
their definition by the nature of the break they make with specific religious inheritances” (Butler, 2008,
p. 13). Secularism itself is grounded in the traditions of state and culture and thus is deeply dependent on the geographical context. Moreover, space is not only relevant for the different natures of secularism, but also for the spatial boundedness of minority communities, which is being ignored in the modernity-narrative (Butler, 2008).
Butler meets the post-secularist view when she notes how religion is a key factor in the disputation and articulation of values. Besides mentioning this as a reason to not totally abandon religion, she mentions how the diversity and spatiality of secularism show that secularism is not “a monolith”. Thus she shows how religion and secular thought are both relevant in society, for secularism “reanimates religion as part of its ideas of culture and civilization” (Butler, 2008, p. 14).
2.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
This Conceptual Framework aims at clarifying the question how the veil influences the way veiled Muslim students experience the educational environment. It does so by looking at the relationships between Identity, Practice and Meaning. It also looks at the distinctions of the educational environment: the social, physical and the institutional environment. Below the conceptual framework I will further explain the relationships between the shown variables.
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How does the wearing of a veil by female Muslim students
influence the experience of the environment of the HAN
Nijmegen and the Radboud University?
Figure 3. Conceptual Framework. Own work, 2017
The experience of the environment is divided in the experience of the social, the physical and the institutional environment. The relationship between the experience of the physical and institutional environment and the experience of the environment (marked with the letter D.) is quite straightforward. The experience of the educational environment is influenced by the physical and institutional features of the environment, for example the facilities or the way the policies and institutions are shaped. The relationship between the social environment and the experience of the environment is more complex. This model uses the theory of Jenkins that is discussed in chapter 2.1, and which states that all identities are constructed by the meaning we or others assign to it. The relationship that is marked with the letter A shows how the meanings that are assigned to the veil within society are shaped by the media and within politics. This happens through certain frames and narratives that are created, enlarged or/and amplified. The experience of the social environment is influenced by the difference between the meanings that are allocated to the veil by teachers and students, and the meanings that are allocated to it by the veiled students themselves (this relationship is marked with the letter B). I expect that the students and the teachers will assign different meanings to the veil than the women themselves. This difference between the meanings is expected to cause friction, which in turn is expected to have a negative influence on the experience of the social environment. The relationship that is marked with a letter C shows the way the experience of the social environment effects the experience of the educational sphere in general.
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3 R
ESEARCH DESIGN
In this chapter I will discuss the methodology used within this research. In the first section I will discuss why a Phenomenological study will help me realise my research objective: to gain insight into
the ways in which the environment of scientific educational institutes interacts with the experiences of veiled female Muslim students. In the second section I will discuss my research strategy more in
depth.
3.1
METHODOLOGY
3.1.1 Qualitative versus quantitative methods
My research question is aimed at exploring the deeper structures of the practice of veiling within education, and how it relates to experience and belonging. This means the focus lies more on conducting an in-depth research than on a more broadly focused research. My research focuses on questions such as “why?” and “how?”. These questions are more fitted for a qualitative study than for a quantitative study, which focuses more on questions such as “when?”, “where?” and “what?” (Meyers, 2000). Thus a qualitative research fits best with my research objective and research question. Choosing the qualitative path means to aspire to understand the problem through first-hand experience, where quantitative research strives to control for bias so that facts are understood in an objective way (Laws & McLoad, 2004). The qualitative study is often more in depth, where the quantitative study is broader. A downside of using qualitative methods is that the outcome of qualitative research is more bound to the context of the research and is harder to abstract to the general than quantitative research outcomes are. Quantitative research is easier to generalize, since the data is often retrieved from a larger set of research units. However, qualitative research leads to a deeper understanding of a specific situation.
3.1.2 Qualitative research methodology
Since the theory and knowledge on the practice of veiling within education and with respect to the feeling of belonging are not abundant, my research focuses (at least for a large part) on the gathering and analysis of empirical data. This way I could use existing theories to analyse this data, while extending the existing knowledge by gathering more empirical data. Taking this and the objective of my research into account, I conclude the most fitting research strategy is one that is qualitatively and empirically focussed.
With this in mind, I looked at the five most important qualitative (empirically focused) research strategies that are mentioned by Creswell (2007). The five mentioned strategies are the Narrative Study, the Phenomenological Study, the Grounded Theory Study, the Ethnographic Study and the Case Study. Of these, the Phenomenological Study fits best with my research objective. Creswell describes how the essential focus of the Phenomenological Study is “understanding the essence of
the experience” (2007, p. 104).The focus on experiences makes the Phenomenological Study very
fitting for my research, since my research looks at the experience of wearing a veil within a scientific institute. The emphasis of Phenomenology on the filtering of individual experiences to a description of the universal essence, distinguishes Phenomenology from the Narrative Study. In Narrative research, the researcher tends to focus on the individual. He or she looks at the stories told by the individual and arranges these stories in chronological order. Opposed to that is Ethnographic research. Here the researcher looks at the stories of individuals within the context of their culture
