La cuestión del hiyab en las aulas. ¿Un caso de conflicto intercultural?

Abstract

espanolRESUMEN: Todo lo que en Occidente rodea al hiyab -vestido islamico- se esta analizando como una cuestion que va mas alla de una simple prenda de vestir. Es examinada siempre como una representacion y signo religiosos, que causan mucha desconfianza entre los occidentales. De hecho, la presencia del velo en las mujeres musulmanas siempre ha sido tema central dentro del debate feminista contemporaneo. Visto asi, el cuerpo de las mujeres musulmanas -esto es, si ha de ser o no cubierto- parece encarnar hoy el lugar de tension entre las representaciones de la modernidad y la que otros llaman la anti-modernidad. En este panorama sociocultural, hemos de preguntarnos como las mujeres musulmanas inmigradas estan viviendo en los paises occidentales la polemica del hiyab, dado que en ellas se produce la confluencia Oriente/Occidente. Como no hay una investigacion seria y global en el mundo islamico, ni fuera de este, que estudie las razones que llevan a las mujeres a velarse, este articulo, fruto de una investigacion en marcha, recoge una investigacion etnografica en Almeria (Espana), dando la palabra a las mujeres. La investigacion se centra en jovenes universitarias. Primero, porque conforman la elite de sus comunidades de inmigradas, segundo, porque se les supone un grado de formacion academica y universitaria, tercero, porque la inmensa mayoria de las jovenes que nos estan llegando a la universidad espanola o han nacido en Espana o migraron con sus padres cuando eran muy pequenas, cuarto, se estan educando en un ambiente universitario que es democratico, laico, critico y de libertad y, quinto, se supone que seran futuras profesionales que superaran el estatus socioeconomico de sus padres. EnglishABSTRACT: Everything surrounding the hiyab -Islamic veil- in the western world is being analysed as an issue going beyond a simple item of clothing. It is always examined as a representation of some religious symbols, causing a considerable mistrust among the western culture. In fact, the presence of this veil on Muslim women has always been placed as the central theme in the contemporary feminist debate. The body of Muslim women -this means, whether it should be covered or not- seems to embody nowadays the fireplace between the representations of modernity and what others tend to call anti-modernity. Within this context, it would be appropriate to wonder how Muslim women who have immigrated to western countries -and located in this convergence point- are dealing with all this controversy around wearing the veil or hiyab. As there is not to this day a serious and global research in the Islamic world that studies the precise reasons why women do wear the veil, this article, as the result of an investigation in process, pretends to give voice to these women. This research is focus on young university students. There are some reasons for that: Firstly, they exemplify the elite of their communities or immigrant colonies. They have reached to higher education studies overcoming a several academic failure among their compatriots, which can be also women. Secondly, they are required to have a reasonable academic and personal background which will lead them to a higher professional level. Thirdly, the vast majority of these young women who studies at Spanish Universities were born in Spain or has migrated with their parents when they were very young. Fourthly, they have been educated in a western educational system: secular, democratic, and critical in a free environment. And finally, after their studies they are supposed to obtain a higher professional level, surpassing the socioeconomic status of their parents and siblings.