ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts discussed in the previous chapters of this book. The book considers the importance of completing a top-down analysis of secularism with a micro-approach. This micro-approach is interesting on several levels. First, it points to the hegemonic character of secularism, a hegemonic character marked by shifts that facilitate (re)appropriations and (re)articulations. Second, this approach highlights how gender is intrinsically linked to the spatial workings of secularism. The book provides an example of the limits of dominant institutional discourses that try to (re)produce and sustain clear boundaries between the secular and 'religious', boundaries that fail to capture the complexity and blurriness of what is happening on the ground. It investigates how dominant understandings of the term evolved over time and in response to different political climates. The chapter focuses on how devout activists have been challenging contemporary understandings of secularism in France and Turkey.
