Over the last few decades, politicians in Europe and North America have fiercely debated the effects of a growing Muslim minority on their respective national identities. Some of these countries have prohibited Islamic religious coverings in public spaces and institutions, while in others, legal restriction remains subject to intense political conflict. Seeking to understand these different outcomes, social scientists have focused on the role of countries' historically rooted models of nationhood and their attendant discourses of secularism. Emily Laxer's Unveiling the Nation problematizes this approach. Using France and Quebec as illustrative cases, she traces how the struggle of political parties for power and legitimacy shapes states' responses to Islamic signs. Drawing on historical evidence and behind-the-scenes interviews with politicians and activists, Laxer uncovers unseen links between structures of partisan conflict and the strategies that political actors employ when articulating the secular boundaries of the nation. In France's historically class-based political system, she demonstrates, parties on the left and the right have converged around a restrictive secular agenda in order to limit the siphoning of votes by the ultra-right. In Quebec, by contrast, the longstanding electoral salience of the “national question” has encouraged political actors to project highly conflicting images of the province's secular past, present, and future. At a moment of heightened debate in the global politics of religious diversity, Laxer's Unveiling the Nation sheds critical light on the way party politics and its related instabilities shape the secular boundaries of nationhood in diverse societies.

Emily Laxer is assistant professor of sociology at Glendon College, York University.

Emily Laxer's profile page

"Introducing novel interpretations and ideas, Unveiling the Nation is an accurate and well-researched account of the debates on the status of religion in the public sphere in both France and Quebec." Denise Helly, Institut national de recherche scientifique

"Unveiling the Nation advances knowledge of current Muslim clothing bans in France and Quebec but also of the political theory around how parties create and use these arguments. The revelation that commissioners portrayed consensus when there was little and the insights into debates between various feminist groups are particularly important additions to the research in this field." Caitlin Killian, Drew University

"Quebec represents an interesting and under-explored case for scholars of nationalism and secularism. It is into this fascinating comparative context that Laxer produces a thoroughly researched, nuanced, and well-written intervention. Within this, of particular merit is her engagement with important empirics regarding the political activities of parties around policy responses to public religious symbols." H-France Review