ABSTRACT
The contested frame that exemplifies how belonging is negotiated within European headscarf debates is the frame of ‘citizenship/integration’. ‘Integration’ would require some conformity to certain crucial norms and values of a respective democracy such as gender equality, freedom and tolerance. The majority of Austrian actors that refer to religious freedom, argue in favour of the headscarf and against any restrictions: mainly churches, Muslim groups and Muslim women’s groups relate to the right of religious freedom by arguing that the headscarf is protected as a religious symbol or expression of personality. This chapter shows that by aligning specific arguments with meanings that relate to national associations of belonging, Muslims are constructed as the ‘other’ to modern European democracies and the boundaries of ‘belonging’ are renegotiated within the context of the headscarf debates. Following Nira Yuval-Davis, the social practices of negotiating and delineating these criteria of who belongs to a specific nation state and who does not, encompass the politics of belonging.
