“The Politics of the Veil”: Conversation with Joan Wallach Scott

Conversation with History, University of California, Berkeley

Recorded February 26, 2009

“The Politics of the Veil”, Joan Wallach Scott, Professor in the School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes historian Joan Wallach Scott who traces her intellectual odyssey and recalls the impact of the women’s movement on her research and teaching. Professor Scott also describes the intellectual influences that led her, more than twenty years ago, to write the now classic article, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical analysis.” The conversation continues with a a discussion of the utility of critical history for elucidaing contemporary policy debates. This part of the discussion focuses on her recent book “The Politics of the Veil,” an analysis of the political, cultural, and social factors that led to the French ban on the wearing of the veil by Muslim young women in public schools.