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How Secularism Engenders Citizenship: A Comparison Of Secularism In France And Turkey, Naomi Janet Izett

Senior Theses

This paper explores the nature of secularism and how it is used and understood in France and Turkey. I argue that governments can reassert their authority over their citizens by controlling national identity and citizenship through the vessel of secularism. I assert that this process creates tensions between citizenship and identity that are sharply revealed when analyzing the discourse surrounding veiled women. This paper presents an overview of the relevant literature written about this topic, then moves on to compare France and Turkey by examining the history of secularism in both countries and how this term has changed over time. …