ABSTRACT
Although the term “harmful cultural practices” was generated and still today most often applies to the sphere of international development discourse and policies in the Global South, in recent years the term is increasingly employed across countries in the Global North. Transnational migration over the past decades has contributed to the “import” of ways of living, traditions and values from former colonised nation-states, including many West-European countries that are characterised by increasing national, ethnic, cultural and religious diversification, or as is sometimes referred to as “super diversity” in migration studies today (Vertovec 2007). Growing attention to and visibility of certain cultural practices, including those negatively affecting the lives of women and girls that are perceived alien to the Christian-secular heritage and liberal gender equality ideologies takes place against the following historic transformations: The growing problematisation of cultural “difference” and diversity since the end of the cold war era; the increase in xenophobia, intolerance and in particular islamophobia since 9/11/2001; and the fact that even after several generations, certain minority groups of migrant origins remain severely disadvantaged in socio-economic terms and educational level in proportion to the national and ethnic majorities.
