El-Tawassol التواصل
Volume 25, Numéro 1, Pages 249-259
2020-04-23

French Media Framing Of The ‘islamic Headscarf’: Identity Threat And Coping Strategies

Authors : Kaidomar Zohra Latifa .

Abstract

In March 2004, the French parliament passed a law banning religious signs in public schools. Prior to the law, the controversy over the Islamic headscarves mobilised massive media coverage. This paper attempts to explore the potential implications of this coverage for national in-group identity. Drawing on identity process theory (IPT) and framing theory, this paper argues that media framing of the ‘headscarf debates’ may have posed identity threats to in-group national identity that may have induced as coping strategies public support to the law and gendered islamophobia.

Keywords

The headscarf controversy ; Identity Process Theory (IPT) ; Framing Theory ; sexist islamophobia