Veiling and unveiling: Identity formation in young Muslim women living in Germany

Abstract

This qualitative study addresses the question of how a background of migration, nationalization, and globalization influences young Muslim women residing in Germany who form their identity and position themselves successfully in modern society. It includes 25 interviews with young Muslim women in the age group 18–25 years whose parents or grandparents migrated to Germany from Turkey. In terms of how their identity has evolved, the participants recount a mostly positive integration into German society, especially on a professional level, contrary to the negativity and devaluation often experienced within their Turkish family. This is a symptom of how Turkish and German society place different expectations on women, with an effect on the development of their identity as well as causing conflicting emotions, especially, for example, when it comes to religious matters such as deciding whether to wear a headscarf. The different personal and subjective motivations behind this are the result of Turkish-Islamic ideas clashing with Western secular thinking. These findings are psychoanalytically explained by suras on veiling in the Quran and the Lacanian dialectic of the symbolic and imaginary phallus.

Key words:

• Muslim
• women
• migration
• headscarf
• religion
• integration

Notes

1 In ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire, upper-class women wore a veil over their hair as a sign of propriety (Hase, 1979). While this custom was temporarily relaxed in the secular Augustan empire, the wearing of the veil or headscarf became more widespread again with the spread of (Pauline) Christianity. Men also wear headscarves, albeit less commonly: practicing Sikh men wear the dastar to cover the dasam duar (“tenth gate”), which is a spiritual energy center located in the area of the vertex (Singh, 2010). The turban, according to the Sikh self-image, expresses worldliness, freedom of belief, nobility, and respect for creation (Uberoi, 1996). In the Arab world, men often wear a kufiya, which is used today primarily as a political symbol, for example of Palestinian autonomy.

2 Traditional patterns for bringing up Turkish girls remain in place to this day, both in Turkey and in Germany: for example, girls are much more regimented in terms of personal leisure time. They are oriented more towards families than to society (Toprak, 2019, among others). The educational goals of Muslim families are in the interests of keeping the family together, especially in foreign countries or against the background of migration (Atabay, 1998), as well in the professional success of the children (Kelek, 2008). Accordingly, Muslim girls in educational institutions mostly conform, keep a low profile, and be successful (Toprak, 2019).

3 Back in 1975, Fatima Mernissi published the book Beyond the veil, in which she advocated Muslim feminism. Books including New thinking in Islam. The Jihad for democracy, freedom and women's rights (2015) were published by Katajun Amirpur. Amina Wadud argues on the basis of the Qur’an for equality for women both within the family and when exercising religious functions (see Wöhr, 2019), for example in the work Qur'an and woman: Rereading the sacred text from a woman's perspective (1999). Seyran Ateş’s engagement includes the writings Islam needs a sexual revolution: An argument (2016).

4 Surveys of the religiosity of young Turkish women in Germany show that adolescent Muslim women consciously turn to Islam in their search for an authentic way of life (Nökel, 2002). Belonging to Islam enables them to “remain in a common sphere of experience with their parents.” What is characteristic, however, is the personal distinction between a “true Islam,” whose essence can be acquired almost scientifically, and a “traditionalist Islam,” which demands the unquestioning acceptance of a rigid set of values (Boos-Nünning & Karakasoglu, 2004, p. 25).

5 In Turkish, the definition of the headscarf is different between generations: women of the older generation tend to use the term başörtü (baş = head, örtü = cloth). The younger generation of Turkish women use the word “hijab,” also referring to themselves as “hijabi.” Although hijab is an Arabic word, it has now been integrated into Turkish language usage. We would like to thank Mr. Necip Yurddas, Essen, for this information.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lena Barth

Authors
Lena Barth, PhD, obtained a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Master’s in clinical psychology. She finished her training as a psychotherapist in psychodynamic psychotherapy in 2015. Since 2018 she has headed the psychodynamic training program at HafenCity Institute for Psychotherapy. Germany. Her doctorate was obtained at the University of Lübeck. She is a board member at the Institute of Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies in Berlin (https://ippk.de/). Her research interests concern the intersection between psychoanalysis, gender, and migration.

Paul Kaiser

Paul Maximilian Kaiser, PhD, obtained a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Master’s in clinical psychology at MSH Medical School Hamburg, Germany. In 2018 he became a postgraduate in psychological psychotherapy at the HIP HafenCity Institute for Psychotherapy, Hamburg, focusing on psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis. In the same year he went on to write his doctoral thesis at University of Lübeck and was awarded with a PhD Scholarship by MSH Medical School Hamburg. In 2021 he received his doctorate. He is a scientific fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies (IPPK) in Berlin. His research interests concern the intersection between migration, culture, and psychoanalysis.

Gonca Tuncel-Langbehn

Gonca Tuncel-Langbehn studied psychology at the University of Hamburg. This was followed by training as a psychological psychotherapist in psychodynamic therapy. She has worked as a psychologist at the Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Berlin, and was the initiator of the study on the subject of identity development and the experience of integration in the context of globalization and changing values among young Muslims.

Barbara Ruettner

Barbara Ruettner, MD, specializes in psychiatry and psychotherapy. She trained as a psychoanalyst SGPsa/IPA in Zurich, Switzerland. She is a lecturer in analytical psychotherapy at the MSH Medical School Hamburg, Germany, and head of the advanced training program in analytical psychotherapy at the HafenCity Institute for Psychotherapy HIP, Hamburg, Germany. She has published in the field of immunology, neurology, and psychosomatics .

Lutz Goetzmann

Lutz Goetzmann, MD, underwent his habilitation at the University of Zurich in the psychosomatic aspects of organ transplantation. He is a professor at the University of Lübeck. From 2011 to 2020, he was head physician of the Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine in Bad Segeberg, Germany. Since 2020, he has worked in his own psychoanalytic practice in Berlin. He is a member of the Swiss Society of Psychoanalysis and has published widely in the field of psychoanalytic psychosomatics and cultural theory. He is co-founder of the Institute of Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies, Berlin (https://ippk.de/) and co-editor of the online-journal Y – Journal of Atopic Thinking.