The Politics of Mosque and Minaret

There is a considerable literature on headscarf politics as an expression of symbolic boundary work. It seems it is time to conceptualize other dimensions of Muslim exclusion/integration. Now, the Ground Zero mosque debate has intensified symbolic politics in the US, a country where the headscarf practice is a non-issue. As the debate becomes a symbolic power game, meaning of mosques themselves are also in change radically. In near future, mosques might increasingly attain a political meaning, i.e. symbol of victory or defeat, since the issue has become much politicized.


Last year, the Swiss ban on minarets was quite a shock to Muslims in the West. In the November 2009 referendum, a constitutional amendment banning theconstruction of new minarets was approved by 57.5% of the voters. Only four of the 26 Swiss cantons were in opposition to ban. The largest party in the Swiss Parliament, the Swiss People's Party, strongly supported the campaign against minarets, which was seen as a symbol of radical Islam. Wonder how many minarets were in Switzerland last year? About a population of 400.000 Muslims (which makes the Switzerland's second largest faith after Christianity) had only four minarets. The poster campaigns targeted the Swiss people's feelings of freedom and liberty as demonizing Muslim women.