Guest Blog: Elsa Kunz, Graduate Student, Harvard Divinity School

Cultivating religious literacy goes beyond the social studies classroom. In fact, world language teachers have some of the greatest opportunities to incorporate the academic study of religion into their lessons. Using a cultural studies approach and the framework from Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School, this lesson examines the historical dynamism of laïcité.

Overview

Topic: the constructions of laïcité in French history

Grades: 9-12

At the beginning of the 1989 school year at Gabriel-Havez Middle School in Creil, France, the highly publicized “headscarf affairs” began. Three Muslim girls, two sisters of Moroccan parents and a daughter of Tunisian parents, wore their hijabs to school. When asked by teachers to remove their hijabs in class, the girls refused. The story gained national attention, and the question of whether wearing a hijab contradicted the uniquely French principle of laïcité arrived in the hands of France’s highest administrative court, Le Conseil d’Etat.

At this time, the Conseil d’Etat ruled that wearing religious signs did not violate the principle of laïcité, as long as it did not interfere with the liberties of other students. The French Minister of Education thus ruled that schools should decide whether the wearing of a religious symbol violates these liberties on a case-by-case basis.

Five years later, in 1994, Francois Bayrou, a new French Minister of Education, changed the ruling. He circulated a memo differentiating between permissible “discreet” religious signs and impermissible “ostentatious” religious signs. He further noted that the headscarf fell into the “ostentatious” category thereby rendering it impermissible.

A decade later, in 2004, then-president Jacques Chirac passed a law prohibiting students from wearing ostentatious religious signs in public schools. This law is still in effect today. In fact, in French language classrooms in the United States, the law is routinely presented as an example of the uniquely French concept of laïcité.* 

Note: For an accessible, but comprehensive, summary and historical contextualization of the headscarf affairs, I recommend this article by Joan Wollach Scott.

The “headscarf affairs” can lead to interesting and generative discussions about the cultural differences between French universalism and American multiculturalism. However, equating laïcité solely with the 2004 French law can perpetuate the assumption that “it has always been this way” in France.

This lesson aims to expose students to how the concept of laïcité has changed over time. While not comprehensive, these resources provide a baseline for teachers who want to explore deeper questions about the ways in which race, gender, and culture impact the construction of law. 

Lesson

Opening

Students write their reactions to the following situation:

Your school has decided to forbid all students from wearing conspicuous garments that openly show visible membership and support to the school across town. Discreet signs of the neighboring school are permitted.

Use the framework Je me sens …. Parce que ….

Volunteers can share their reactions (in French, if possible). The class can also discuss why such a policy might make sense for the school and why such a policy might be weird for a school. It can also be helpful to explore how one differentiates between a “conspicuous sign” and a “discreet sign”?

Group Activity

In small groups (3-4 people), students will brainstorm how communities regulate such signs and for what reasons. Each group will share their ideas, and students should be encouraged to place their responses on the whiteboard. 

Transition

Introduce the 1989 headscarf affair. This video (in French) shows footage. Then, read this part of the 2004 French law aloud:  Dans les écoles, les collèges et les lycées publics, le port de signes ou tenues par lesquels les élèves manifestent ostensiblement une appartenance religieuse est interdit. 

Have students share words in French that they recognize. Have them guess what they think the law means.

Then read the law in English: “In schools, colleges and public schools, the wearing of signs or outfits by which pupils ostensibly manifest a religious affiliation is prohibited.” 

Ask: What does ostensible mean? What makes a sign ostensible? 

Discuss reactions to this law: What makes sense about it? What seems strange?

Note: In the cultural studies approach to religion, religious dimensions of human experience are intertwined with political and economic influences. As such, when students examine a law, it is important to think about how the religious dimensions are often inseparable from culture. 

Jigsaw Activity – Laïcité Over Time (FR/ENG)

Group 1: Jules Ferry Law and Letter

Group 2: 1905 Law Separating Church and State

Group 3: Bayrou Memorandum

Group 4: Stasi Commission

Students read the abridged documents in French, highlighting words they recognize. After grappling with the texts, students attend to the following questions: 

• When was this document written?
• What lens do I bring to the interpretation of this document?
• How is religion being articulated?
• How is laïcité being defined? 

For students who need additional support in reading French, English translations are provided.

Wrap-Up

Each group presents. Following each presentation, discuss, as an entire class, how laïcité is understood in each instance. For example, under each conception of laïcité:

• Who is included and who might be excluded?
• In what ways does the understanding of laïcité change?
• In what ways does it stay the same? 

In following days, continue exploring the cultural contexts that surround each iteration of laïcité. 

Also by Elsa: Religion All Around: Engaging Students with the Category of Religion

Elsa received her BA in French. She is currently a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School and an aspiring secondary school educator. Academically, she spends time thinking creatively about incorporating the academic study of religion in the humanities classroom. Outside of her research, she enjoys running, singing, and hiking with friends.