Facing the Public Eye: Analyzing Discourse on the Niqab and the Visibility of the Face In Canada

Abstract

The niqab is a veil worn by some Muslim women that covers the face except the area around the eyes, which can be seen through a rectangular slit in the fabric. In recent years, a number of countries have enacted measures against the niqab in public spaces. Canadian law and policy makers have made significant contributions to ongoing debates about the niqab as well as the acts of facial covering and uncovering. While objections to the niqab have been framed in many different ways, the guiding premise of this dissertation is that negative reactions to the niqab are grounded within the expectation and demand to see the human face. Drawing upon the case of R. v. N.S, the niqab ban during the Canadian citizenship oath, and Bill 62: An Act to foster adherence to State religious neutrality and, in particular, to provide a framework for requests for accommodations on religious grounds in certain bodies, this dissertation considers how Canadian legal and political actors have justified restrictions against the niqab by invoking the idea that the visibility of the face is a central part of Western cultural values. Ultimately, my research questions the kind of work that the human face and the sense of sight is expected to do by examining how demands to see people’s faces reflect and maintain interlocking cites of privilege and oppression such as racism, sexism, ableism, imperialism, and colonialism.